


amor vincit omnia

by whiteautumn



Series: bellum omnium contra omnes [1]
Category: Assassination Classroom, Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst and Humor, Asano's a surprisingly nice guy, F/F, F/M, I'll continue to tag as I go along, M/M, Pseudo-Science, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Tragedy, everyone is there so i'm just tagging the major characters, implied gakushuu/nagisa at least, in the typical AC fashion, owari no seraph au, some OoC-ness to comply with the settings, warnings for Kuroko and Nagisa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:03:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 35,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7862857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteautumn/pseuds/whiteautumn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tetsuya wants to make Seijuurou emperor, while Nagisa just wants to be with Karma again.</p><p>  <i>amor vincit omnia: love conquers all</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. exordium

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [You'll Listen to Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6734632) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> I didn't want to write this at first. I really, really didn't. But fifteen-hour flights are detrimental to my brain and finding out that another author has written an AU similar to one of your brainchild is really good for getting some asses (and fingers) into gear. 
> 
> So, yes. I present to you, my KnB/AC x OnS AU. 
> 
> Character settings are at asaki-iroha on tumblr (it's my new akkr x karmagisa blog and it's **not spoiler free** ), and if you want to read the fic that kicked off this whole thing, it's by FanKid, and it's been linked below. My setting's vastly different, however. But that work made me get off my lazy butt and actually write this. 
> 
> You can go into this story entirely blind about the OnS world - since I will explain a good deal of it - but it'd be good to know some of the basics. If you've read Guren's LN series, then yeah y'all have a good idea of what's coming. 
> 
> The respective wikis for the fandoms would give you a lot of insight. 
> 
> **Disclaimer: I don't own Owari no Seraph, Kuroko no Basuke or Ansatsu Kyoushitsu.**
> 
> **Note: Kuroko and Nagisa are brothers in this, so I changed Nagisa's surname. BEWARE THE TWO BROTHERS OMG.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _exordium - beginning._

_"Karma, we'll always be together, won't we?"_

_"I'm an Akabane, Nagisa, I'm not worth your time."_

_"That's not up to them to decide! If I say we'll be together, we will! So promise me, please?"_

_".... I can't."_

_...._

_"Ah! There he is! Nagisa-sama!"_

_"What's he doing with that Akabane brat?"_

_"Never mind that, get Nagisa-sama away from him!"_

_"What are you guys... Karma!"_

_".... It's for the best, go."_

_"Karma!"_

 

A groan escaped his lips as the sharp sound of his alarm clock blared around him. Grimacing, he opened his eyes, blinking in rapid succession to clear his vision and confusion, before slamming his palm down onto the affronting object.

He'd dreamt of _that_ day again.

Heaving a large sigh, he settled into the comfort of his bed, throwing an arm over his eyes. Anything to remove that shade of pale, sky blue from his vision; anything to forget that hopeful expression twisting into one of disbelief and finally sadness.

Sadness that Karma himself never got over, not since the day he saw Nagisa cry and knew it was his fault.

The knock on his door broke him out of his reverie. Sighing, he sat up, grimacing at the rumpled state of his pyjamas, damped with his sweat - he always did a lot of trashing around when the memories of that day resurfaced in his mind. Thankfully, Hayami knew how to overlook her master's episodes and never comment on them.

Okuda was an entirely different matter.

Which was why, the redhead mused, Hayami was always the person in charge of making sure Karma woke up every morning and not spend it lazing about in bed. Her no-nonsense attitude made her quite pleasant to work with, if only she wasn't such a killjoy when Karma himself was in a playful mood.

The girl raised an eyebrow the moment she laid eyes on Karma, but didn't comment.

"Good morning, Karma-sama. I hope you're ready for school today." Karma scoffed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I spent my whole existence prepping myself for the upcoming three years of nightmare in Shibuya. A place under the control of the Kuroko family - what joy." His aide didn't comment on his bitter tone - she knew about Nagisa, however briefly, and knew better than to pass any comments about the Kuroko or the Akashi family in his company.

"It is also the place where the country's elite soldiers are trained, Karma-sama, and you'll have us with you, you won't be entirely without allies."

The redhead sighed, before rolling his eyes and telling her to leave so that he could get ready. 

Nagisa never once left his mind, however. There was a huge possibility that he could be in the same school since they were the same age. Karma knew his older brother - Kuroko Tetsuya - was, so it just made the chances of meeting Nagisa higher.

He didn't know what to feel about that.

Or maybe he was just too afraid - to find out that Nagisa has forgotten about him. That the blue-haired boy had moved on.

Karma knew it was for the best, but he couldn't fully let go.

Especially not when he was the cause for Nagisa's tears on that day.

* * *

 

Kuroko Tetsuya was a simple individual. Ghostly, since he scares the hell out of everyone with his lack of presence, but nice.

That was the typical answer you would get from almost everyone, if you asked for their opinion on the Kuroko scion. Hailing from the ruling family of the military, he - both he and his brother, in fact - possessed little to no presence, and looks like he could barely hurt an ant. His presence was so faint he scared people more often than not, and if it wasn't for the weight of the name he bears, no one would know that he exists. 

Of course, that was only if you asked people who barely knew him. If you knew who to ask, you would get an entirely different answer.

Akashi Seijuurou personally thought Tetsuya was the best thing to ever happen to him - in both the cheesiest sense, as well as tactically. The blue-haired heir possessed a rare talent in spell-casting and creation, and knew how to use his charm to manipulate his way around things - a trait that's shared by his younger brother as well. In Akashi's opinion, Tetsuya was truly perfect for him.

"You think too highly of me, Sei-kun." The shorter boy remarked, Akashi raised an eyebrow – Tetsuya was ever polite, another plus – for he knew he hadn't voiced that comment out loud, and Tetsuya was in Akashi's swivel chair in the student council room, facing the window. There was no way he would've been able to tell what he was thinking.

His fiancé never fails to amaze him, even to this day. 

Making his way over to the chair, he stood behind Tetsuya, watching the blue-haired scion gaze upon the school's courtyard with interest.

"Looking for your brother?" Kuroko Nagisa was due to start school this year, and Akashi could understand why Tetsuya was worried, with the younger's current state, and the fact that their plans for the Teikou army began this year.

The redhead didn't bother suppressing his smirk - it was going to be a glorious year.

Tetsuya hummed in reply.

"Yes, and no. Nagisa will be here for sure. I'm looking for the other."

"Ah, so he did not betray our expectations."

"Indeed, he's in this school campus right now."

"I imagine Nagisa must be on cloud nine."

"We'll see at the welcome ceremony, won't we, Sei-kun? Speaking of," he spun the chair around so he faced the Akashi heir, "Don't you have to meet Asano-kun soon?"

 

* * *

 

The doors of First Shibuya High were intimidating - as expected from the top elite school in the country, Karma mused, golden irises scanning his environment and taking in everything in saw, categorising them. For him, Okuda and Hayami, this place was first and foremost, a battlefield, and any mistake could cost them their lives.

He frowned when he felt a stare - it wasn't malicious, albeit uncomfortable and calculating - and looked up to meet seemingly blank baby blue eyes.

But they weren't Nagisa's. They were that of his brother's.

Kuroko Tetsuya didn't break their gazes despite being found out, and the longer Karma stared at the Kuroko heir, the more he realised that the other was amused. Scowling, he closed his eyes and looked away.

"Lets go, Hayami, Okuda. We don't want to be late for the Welcome Ceremony." 

Okuda didn't seem to notice the exchange, if Hayami did, her expression betrayed nothing.

"Yes, Karma-sama."

* * *

 

The Welcome Ceremony was as arduous and boring as any student congregation could get. Karma barely held back his grimace when Akashi Seijuurou took to the podium, heterochrome eyes sweeping across the student body - lingering a while too long on Karma than he'd liked, but it wasn't his place to criticise _Akashi-sama_ 's actions - and bringing everyone to silence with his mere presence.

 _Shorty_ , Karma thought, as the Council President gave his speech. He yawned, such occasions really weren't for him, but he hadn't wanted to seem like he was afraid by skipping the Ceremony entirely. He was well-aware that his classmates were notified of the fact that the Akabane of their generation was going to be in their class and that he should be treated with _utmost_ care.

Karma was ready to call their bullshit. He wasn't his father - he wasn't about to just bow to the Akashi and Kuroko houses just because of some previously family feud.

 _Liar_ , a voice inside him called out mockingly, _if you truly believed in that, you wouldn't have let Nagisa go that day._

He hissed, and Okuda jumped in surprise.

"Karma-sama? Are you all right?" The bespectacled girl asked, frowning and peering at his features for any signs of physical discomfort. He saw Hayami frowning in his peripheral as well, before brushing the both of them off.

"I'm fine."

_Again, you lie. You haven't been. Not since –_

Karma squashed that voice ruthlessly, letting the familiar silence wash over him as he seized to think about Nagisa. Sweet, strong Nagisa - the Nagisa who had been willing to do anything for them to remain together as children – the Nagisa who always made him feel a certain sense of calm and that he could do just about anything –

He turned around sharply, and for the second time that day, a pair of baby blue eyes met his golden ones.

* * *

 

The rest of the Ceremony had passed in a daze for Karma, he barely registered Akashi ending his speech and the first year representative taking over the stage. Hayami had to grip his wrist hard to prevent him from bolting and running towards Nagisa the moment their eyes met.

Nagisa remembered him, and he smiled at him. At Karma.

At the boy who failed to keep him six years ago.

The redhead had wanted nothing else than to run towards the blue-haired boy after the Ceremony ended, but Hayami's grip did not relent, the girl pulling him towards his classroom, all the while hissing in his ears something about discipline and trouble and the Akashis - seriously, screw them all at this point - and he would've shaken her off if Nagisa himself didn't wave at him and mouthed a "later", leaving with a brunette and a guy with dark blue hair.

So here he was, sitting at the back of his classroom, flitting between glaring at his table with a frown and looking out of the window wishing this whole charade of a classroom would end soon. He knew what was coming: their Homeroom teacher would enter and go through administrative matters, all the while throwing not-so-subtle jabs at Karma. Such was his fate in this school as long as he bore the Akabane name and had the Akabane blood flowing in his body.

Karma was going to let them do it - they weren't worth his time, and he could live with the secret information that he was strong enough to crush them all and held the power to choose not to do so.

He didn't care about them - he cared about Nagisa.

"Sorry I'm late, sensei. President Akashi kept me back to discuss some matters."

"Ah, it's all right, Asano-kun!" Did the teacher just swoon? Ugh. "You are our year representative, after all! Unlike some low-class Akabane trash around here." Karma sighed mentally, the rude words were ruining the female teacher's looks - not like they were that great to begin with, but they just made her look all that uglier in the eyes of the Akabane heir. 

"We saved the front seat for you, Asano-kun!" Great, his classmates were ass-kissers too.

"Ah, actually...." Karma looked up from his attempt to slice the table into half with his glare when he heard Asano's footsteps approach him. The strawberry blond was looking at the boy seated beside him with a smile.

"I want this seat, would you be so kind to switch with me?"

"Eh?! I, uh, I mean, yes but -"

"Asano-kun?"

"It's easier this way, sensei. I mean, I could show Akabane-kun how to behave like a proper student then, correct?" Karma watched in interest as the woman faltered.

"Ah, yes, but -" 

"Don't worry about me, sensei, I'll be able to catch up no matter where I sit."

 _Pompous jackass_ , Karma frowned as the other took the seat next to him, motioning for the teacher to carry on.

"Your dislike for me is showing, Akabane-kun." Asano - Karma didn't know his given name, considering he didn’t pay attention during the Ceremony - remarked, looking over with a raised brow.

"Because I wasn't trying to hide it." He hissed back, not understanding what this guy was getting at.

The blond chuckled, "Despite everything, I would indeed like to get to know you better. I'm Asano Gakushuu, you and the rest of the student body may know me as the year representative, but," he lowered his voice, "just between you and I, I'm also Kuroko Nagisa's fiancé." He held out his hand in a handshake.

Karma stared.

"We share a common interest, so why not try to get along?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jfc you've no idea how much I love writing Asano in this he's literally so cute. Also Karma you're dead cause you called Akashi short (to be fair 14yo!Karma's taller than 16!yo Akashi... I'm so sorry...) RIP. 
> 
> I have no idea how long this whole thing is going to take, especially since Guren's LN series hasn't ended yet. I don't plan on following the whole storyline, but it is going to stick closely to it, with some major details changed. 
> 
> There is also no fixed sequel planned since I'm not into MaeIso - this universe's MikaYuu - that much, and also I've no idea what to do with the Vampires and Seraphs (oops). But there are scenes between Asano and Karma and Akashi (they are known as the triple As in my mind now lol) that I want to write. Might most likely end up in broken pieces of one-shots here and there (I might even be convinced to write Gakushu/Karma.. hm). But we'll see.


	2. progressus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the support! I was worried, since this is a very specific cross-over, that no one would like this idea QAQ. I love y'all. 
> 
> I also love this universe's Asano so much - he's quickly de-throning Karma in my heart (....) 
> 
> We're still introducing characters, and setting up for the basis of the storyline.
> 
> There's a certain comment in this chapter that was one of my first impressions when I started ankyou. See if you can spot it!
> 
>  
> 
> _progressus - progressing._

Asano was still looking at him with that disgusting fake smile, and Karma debated his choices of a; punching him or b; smashing his face into the table. Neither of which would end nicely for him, so he chose option c; to blatantly ignore the hand and demand answers.

"What the fuck?! What do you mean by that?" He glared at Asano, wishing that he could drill holes in the other's face.

"Shh!" The other shot him a look when his volume rose a little too high for comfort, glancing at their teacher to ensure that she hadn't heard it, and retracted his offered hand when it was clear the redhead didn't want to take it.

"I mean it, I am his fiancé, have been for the past six years." Karma winced, before scowling at the other, Asano shrugged it off effortlessly.

"Don't look at me like that. I might be his fiancé, but I'm not his lover." The redhead blinked at the implications of the other's words, before deflating and reducing the intensity of his glower.

"So, you're here to mock me with that fact?" 

"I feel insulted you think so little of me, Akabane-kun. I just wanted to see what Nagisa-kun sees in you, that's all."

Karma snorted, "Well you've done that, now spare me your judgemental comments and leave me alone."

Asano raised an eyebrow at him in an 'are you serious' look.

"I expected the person whom Nagisa claims to be madly in love with to be a lot less lazy than this."

The redhead jerked violently at Asano's comment, both at the fact that Nagisa was still in love with him and that Asano found him lazy - like he cared about what others thought, but he did give a damn when he was being insulted.

His neighbour propped his chin on the back of his hand, looking over at him that made Karma oddly feel that he was being examined like a rare scientific subject.

"That's the most decent reaction you've given me since I entered the classroom."

"I'm sorry," He gritted out, "I wasn't aware that I lived to entertain you."

"Don't be so defensive, I do want to be friends - considering Nagisa-kun still likes you a lot. We should probably try to get along."

"What, none of that romance drama crap where we end up being enemies instead?"

"I am trying to help you - or Nagisa-kun, really - here. Your school life won't be easy, and every ally counts, right?"

That was when Karma decided that he really didn't like Gakushuu. 

* * *

 

Kuroko Nagisa was pretty for a guy, that had been Yukimura Akari's first impression of the boy when she'd first met him.

Later on, after meeting one Kuroko Tetsuya, she would come to conclude that the pretty boyish look must run in the family.

But looks weren't the only reason why she and Nagisa became best friends. Sure, as an actress, looks mattered a lot to her, but Nagisa had a certain charm to him – he looked harmless, but Akari knew he could potentially be one of the most dangerous person she’d ever met.

She thought she’d seen all of Nagisa’s expressions – his despair after losing Akabane Karma, his dedication and concentration when he worked towards forming a plan to get Karma back, his wistful smile when he talked about his past with Karma, as well as the hopeful glint in his eyes when he talked about being together with Karma in the future.

But she’d never seen that pure joy – not until today.

And part of her wondered how Akabane could ever have the heart to let Nagisa go because Nagisa was absolutely stunning when he was happy. The once hopeful glint had sparkled and lit up, forming a bright star, gleaming brightly in his baby blue eyes. 

Kuroko Nagisa was beautiful – and she was sure everyone knew that, judging by the curious and slightly dazed looks their classmates threw across the classroom.

“Hey lover boy,” she teased, breaking Nagisa out of his daydream – if she had to guess, Karma was probably the Prince or the Knight or some other equally shoujo-manga-esque hero and Nagisa himself took the female lead – “You might want to tone down the grinning, the whole class is staring.”

“But Akari! It’s been six years, and he remembered me!” The brunette laughed at the uncharacteristic hyperactivity from the blue-haired boy. Nagisa’s reactions were never to this degree, unless one brought Akabane into the mix.

After seeing the male in person today, she suppose she could understand why. The other was unfairly good-looking – not like Asano Gakushuu wasn’t, but Karma is, after all, Nagisa’s first love – and she supposed the only reason why girls weren’t paying him anymore attention than they are is due to his bloodline.

Which never bothered Nagisa. 

“Yeah, I mean, you are his first love. And after being separated so tragically, there’s no way he could forget you, right?” Akari teased, drawing delight from the way Nagisa’s cheeks heated up and his pale skin flushed pink.

"Plus, you two are like the Romeo and Juliet of this century, how romantic!"

“Akari!”

* * *

 

“So,” Karma drawled, speaking around his straw, “How did you end up getting engaged to Nagisa?”

Asano – who had smoothly (that guy was way too suave and crafty, Karma didn’t like him) dealt with every single attempt from their classmates to rope him into their group, it was clear to Karma that he was waiting for Karma to meet him halfway, and that required initiative on Karma’s part – looked up from his bento, an eyebrow lifted and giving off the aura of ‘are you talking to me?’

Karma glared, and wished he could smother the other when he smirked.

“It’s a simple story, really. Kuroko-sama needed to stop Nagisa from running to the Akabane estate to see you again, So he needed someone who had the ability to tie Nagisa down – his first choice was, in fact, Akashi-senpai,” Asano winced at the memory and Karma grimaced internally, fingers tightening around his drink packet, “Kuroko-senpai took it as well as you think he did, actually. Nagisa-kun was appalled.”

“So you were the second choice?” Asano shrugged.

“I offered. Made a deal with Nagisa – since marrying him would do my family good, and I understood that he will always be in love with you and didn’t mind it.”

“Therefore it’s a business trade of sorts?”

“Arranged marriages often are. Cases like Akashi-senpai and Kuroko-senpai are rare. Although their marriage arrangements are also extremely political.”

The redhead scoffed, kicking the legs of his table.

“Marriages in general are political.”

“My, my, don’t you sound bitter. I guess you’ve had the most experience out of them all, and not the good kind, eh?”

“How did that holier-than-thou asshole agree to tie Nagisa to you anyway?”

“You mean other than the fact that Kuroko-senpai went crazy and lashed out against him? He was actually searching for people who resembled you – makes it easier to tie Nagisa-kun in, he thought.”

Then, it made sense that Akashi Seijuurou had been General Kuroko’s first choice – Karma not only resembled him in terms of looks, but also abilities and potential.

“Kuroko-senpai used to comment that Akashi-senpai is basically the two of us combined into one.”

The Akabane heir choked on his drink, wincing as he felt the artificially flavoured liquid enter his body in the wrong way. 

Asano snorted at his reaction.

“Yeah, exactly what I thought.”

Coughing to rid himself of the manufactured strawberry taste, Karma groaned.

“Never, ever, _ever_ suggest that, ever again.” Three evers, for emphasis. The other shrugged.

“I didn’t. Kuroko-senpai did." 

“Akabane!” The two males perked up at the boisterous voice, Asano raising an eyebrow and Karma shrugging in an nonchalant manner. 

Terasaka Ryouma stared down at him with a sneer marring his face, arms crossed.

“Excuse me, Terasaka-kun, I believe I was talking to Akabane-kun over here.” The other was ticked, Karma could tell, as he addressed the delinquent – how did he even get into this school, much less this class, with his grades? That’ll always be a mystery to Karma – with a slightly pinched smile.

The muscle-brain brushed Asano off, choosing to focus on Karma instead.

“Tell me, Akabane-trash, how does it feel to be the fodder for the entire school?” 

“Probably a lot better than having nothing but muscles in your head for a brain, dead last.”

“Why you little –”

“At least I know who to pick my battles with,” Karma cut in, gesturing to Asano, who was now frowning, “And all I know is that brushing off Akashi- _sama_ ’s successor is probably one of the many bad choices you made in your life.”

Terasaka growled and readied himself for a comeback, but flinched when Asano glared at him.

“Terasaka-kun, that’s enough.” A soft but stern voice cut in, and Kataoka Megu placed a placating hand on Terasaka’s shoulders. She looked apologetically at the both of them.

“Sorry for the interruption, Asano-kun… Akabane-kun.” The last part was added on with some hesitation, before their female class representative perked up again.

“Ah, speaking of… There’s someone here for you, Akabane-kun.” The two boys turned to the door of their classroom.

Asano’s glare dissipated immediately to be replaced with a soft look.

Karma felt his breath hitch, and clenched his fist.

Nagisa was standing right outside his classroom.

* * *

 

“Nagisa-kun! There’s… um, someone here for you!”

The aforementioned boy looked up curiously from his chat with Akari, and turned to see their Council President waiting by their classroom door, arms folded and eyes directed straight at him. 

“Ah, Akashi-san.” He mumbled under his breath and Akari looked at him, voicing her silent question.

He didn’t know what the other wanted either, so he squeezed her hand in assurance before standing up and making his way to the door, feeling the stares from the entire class – some fearful, some curious and others hesitant – on him.

Closing the door to spare his classmates some of the torture from being in the same area as The Akashi Seijuurou, he sighed.

“Was this really necessary? You could’ve just texted me if you wanted to see me.” The red-haired ruler of the school shrugged.

“Tetsuya insisted someone check on you since he’s… occupied at the moment. How are you feeling?”

Nagisa bit his lips, thinking of the best way to answer without tipping the other off that he was lying.

“Just tell me the truth, Nagisa. There’s no use in sugar-coating it, Tetsuya wants to know and I’ll know if you lie.” He winced.

“It’s still in control, somewhat. I can handle a higher level of possession if need be.” Nagisa did not dare look up, for he knew that the Akashi scion was examining him and his future brother-in-law was highly intimidating, even for him.

He pushed back the strong urge lingering in the back of his mind to crush the other. If he couldn’t be manipulated, he must be destroyed. But Akashi Seijuurou was light years ahead of him in terms of strength and skills – there was a reason why Tetsuya nii-sama was so infatuated with him and the whole school bowed to him, after all. 

“Good,” Akashi commented after a while of silence. “You’ll meet with Shiro soon. Tetsuya is making arrangements.” He nodded, hoping the other would go away and leave him alone so that the compulsions would stop and he could breathe normally again. It seems like _he_ didn’t like being threatened – and Akashi Seijuurou was by no doubt, one of the biggest threats in this school.

 _Nii-sama and I should come to close seconds, however._ The younger Kuroko brother thought drily.

“By the way, have you met with Akabane Karma yet?” He jolted at the sudden mention of Karma, and glared at Akashi. _He’d better not have…_

The redhead chuckled, “Relax, I haven’t even met him in person, much less to be able to do something to him. Your brother and I were just curious if you’ve gone to see him.”

“No… I do plan on doing so later, however.”

“Mm, Tetsuya wants you to make contact soon.”

“Even if nii-sama doesn’t, I will go searching for him anyway.”

“He’s in Gakushuu’s class, if you don't already know.” He didn’t, but that didn’t make any difference to him. Gakushuu-kun knew he was going to go for Karma, and not him. That was one of the conditions he’d laid down during their first meeting.

He wondered if nii-sama still held a grudge against their father for suggesting Akashi-senpai in the first place.

 _Then again, nii-sama hates father for a lot of things._ _He_ thought, amused, before snapping back into reality when Akashi called for him.

“Go and see Akabane soon, before your brother gets mad.” Nagisa raised an eyebrow at him, future brother-in-law and Council President or not, he didn't like being ordered around. However, Akashi left without waiting for his reply, leaving the younger to stare at his retreating back.

“Oh, don’t worry. I plan to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NAGISA APPEARS. Don't worry he won't be around (in person) for long (oi) so don't get used to it.
> 
> Did y'all figure out which line was my first impression of ankyou? Hah.


	3. cor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've added the english translations for the latin chapter titles~
> 
> _cor - heart._
> 
> The following update will take a bit longer, since I have Ikea furnitures to deal with and my condo has their annual fire alarm testing going on and it's so fucking noisy my head's about to explode.

Akabane Karma didn’t like the way Asano Gakushuu was staring at him. The young Asano scion had since pulled his eyes away from the figure lingering in the hallway back onto the redhead, scrutinizing his every expression and movement.

Nagisa was standing outside his classroom, looking for him.

Looking for _Karma_.

This was not the exactly reunion he’d been planning for.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded his thanks to Kataoka, and made his way to the door. Asano was examining the whole scene with a slight shift in his lips that was too miniscule to be called a smile – he’d thought his lavender irises looked stormy for a slight second but it might’ve been his imagination.

Nagisa.

The smaller boy’s eyes lit up in joy as he saw Karma approach. His pigtails moving along as the other bounced lightly on his feet.

 _Ten steps_ , and Karma was starting to wonder if he should’ve just told Kataoka to say he wasn’t available.

 _Nine_ , he found his breath hitching.

 _Eight_ , his heart started beating faster.

 _Seven_ , the blood rushing in his ears.

 _Six_ , it seems that his brain has finally decided to comprehend that the reunion he’d been waiting for six long years was happening at last.

 _Five_ , elation.

 _Four_ , he clenched his fists.

 _Three_ , cold sweat started gathering on his palm.

 _Two_ , Nagisa was oh-so- _close_ and he could see his own being reflected in the clear sky blue irises and all Karma wanted to do was to drown himself in them –

 _One_.

The shorter boy was looking up at him with that carefree smile Karma had missed dearly, and Karma took a deep breath.

“Hello, Nagisa.”

Nagisa’s smile grew, if possible, and he broke out into a grin.

“Karma, I’ve missed you.”

The redhead paused, biting his lips and wondering if this was appropriate because he could still feel Gakushuu’s piercing stare and he was just right there and Karma was supposed to be nothing to Nagisa –

“Same, I’ve missed you too.”

The hug he received was answer enough.

He had missed this so much, he realised as he brought his arms up to wrap around Nagisa’s slender torso. Nagisa’s scent, his voice and his endearing ways. He’s missed them all.

Most importantly, he’s missed the feeling where the world didn’t matter as long as they were together. Like how he could do anything as long as he had Nagisa by his side – as well as the elation at how Nagisa was willing to stay with him.

_“I’ll make it possible, Karma. I promise.”_

* * *

 

Gakushuu watched with mixed feelings as Akabane approached Nagisa. It had been interesting at first, seeing the red-haired boy react to the reality that Nagisa was standing right outside their classroom, waiting for him, while just a short while ago he’d been a faraway dream.

He’d passed off the slight irritation he’d felt when he heard that Nagisa was looking for Akabane as the remnant of the annoyance he had for the dead last, Terasaka. However, that had failed to explain why the nagging feeling remained even when he was drawing satisfaction and glee from watching Akabane flounder nervously as he made his way towards his fiancé.

It didn’t make any sense, except when Gakushuu really thought about it and compared it to societal expectations, it did.

He was expected to be bothered by the fact that someone else was approaching his fiancé in that manner, but watching Akabane and Nagisa interact was enough to make him remember why Nagisa had picked him in the first place.

_“Kuroko-kun, I have a... proposal for you.”_

_The boy paused in shifting his last bite of cake around his plate – he’d seemed bent on ignoring Gakushuu throughout the whole tea session, while their parents were off discussing their possible engagement – and looked up after a moment of hesitation, remaining silent and deadpan._

_“I’m not interested in you, and I heard about Akabane Karma –”_

_“Hasn’t everyone.” Gakushuu ignored the bitter interruption._

_“And my father is… more than pushy about us becoming engaged. Therefore, I was thinking… We could get engaged, and when the time comes, when Akabane returns to you, I’ll turn a blind eye to everything going on between you two. I’ll even break off our marriage if need be, when our fathers,” He then lowered his voice, “are dead.”_

_Nagisa blinked, and bit at his fork lightly in contemplation._

_“Aren’t you afraid of the repurcussions of divorcing me?”_

_“No, not at all? I’m confident that I’ll have every one of the other families obeying me by then.” If not, he’d just blackmail his way through – he knew his father has enough dirt on the others to keep them in their subordinate positions for life, and all he had to do was to get rid of him._

_“You won't come between Karma and I?”_

_“I promise.”_  

Right, because of that, he had no reason to be bothered. He shouldn’t be.

The sudden buzz from his phone made him frown. Pulling the device out, he narrowed his eyes when he saw the sender.

 _What does he want now,_ he thought, sliding his fingers across the words “Akashi Seijuurou” to unlock his phone and pull up the message.

 

_Has Nagisa gone and met Karma yet?_

**Seen 12:06**

 

 _Well hello to you too, Akashi-_ sama _._ Rolling his eyes, he typed out a reply. No matter how much he desired the other’s position, Akashi was still more powerful than he was at the moment – and hence Gakushuu worked for him as long as they remained in this school.

His takeover, however, would be glorious.

 

 

 _Yes. They’re embracing right outside  
_ _our classroom door, actually._

**Seen, 12:07**

 

 

 _Oh? That’s interesting. Tetsuya  
_ _would be delighted to know that._

**Seen, 12:07**

 

 _Sure, if rumours don’t start spreading_  
_first. Akabane didn’t close the door_  
_and they’re right there in the  
_ _hallway. It’s troublesome._

**Seen, 12:08**

 

_It’s fine, let them talk._

**Seen, 12:08**

 

_If you say so._

**Seen, 12:08**

 

 

 _My, aren’t you prickly. Feeling  
_ _jealous?_

**Seen, 12:08**

 

 

He glowered at the screen, because he was not in the mood to get teased by anyone, least of all, Akashi Seijuurou. Ignoring the whispers amongst his classmates, he typed out a quick reply before standing up and walking out to the embracing pair, with all intend to get them to a less populated place.

The curious and wondering stares of the heirs of certain families – the ones who were privy to his and Nagisa’s engagement – lingered on him, and he ignored all of them.

 

_No._

**Seen, 12:10**

 

He couldn’t wait until Akashi’s graduation.

* * *

 

“It seems that Nagisa has met Karma.” Akashi commented offhandedly to Tetsuya, fingering a _kin-sho_ piece and eyeing his shogi board.

 _“Has he, now…”_ Tetsuya hummed in thought, _“Well that’ll come in handy when we hand Nagisa to Shiro.”_

“Mm, Gakushuu told me they made quite a scene too, hugging outside their classroom door.”

 _“In the hallway?”_  

“Yeah,” He flicked the shogi piece and caught it with his finger again, “Gakushuu was especially annoyed.”

 _“At the fact that they are a scandal in the making, or at the fact that Nagisa chose Akabane-kun over him?”_ The redhead knew Tetsuya was smiling in amusement at the other end of the line. 

“Both, but perhaps Gakushuu firmly believes in the former.”

_“Ah, isn’t that cute, Sei-kun. Asano-kun was always a firm denier, since the day I met him.”_

“Of Asano Gakuhou?”

_“Mainly that, but most likely you, too. Makes him similar to Akabane-kun in a lot of ways.”_

“I have him under my thumb now. Doesn’t that rebellious personality make your job easier?” 

_“Not mine, Sei-kun. Nagisa’s. It won't be me breaking their hearts, after all.”_

“And that,” Placing his _kin’sho_ piece between his index and middle fingers, he dropped it onto the opponent’s _o’sho_ with a decisive click, “is what I love about you.”

_“Like I said, Sei-kun thinks too highly of me. But I’ll accept that compliment.”_

“Good. Get Nagisa ready for his move soon. Do it once you get confirmation from Shiro. We don’t have much time before the December deadline.”

_“Yes, Sei-kun.”_

* * *

 

Okuda Manami sighed as their sensei left the classroom and lunch break started. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Rinka picking up her bento box from her school bag and approaching her table.

“That wasn’t too bad, was it?” Her companion remarked gently.

“I guess, I spent most of the time worrying about Karma-sama.” Rinka’s eyes softened at that.

“He can take care of himself, he’s the guy, after all.”

“Yes, but!” The bespectacled girl bit her lips in worry. “But Asano Gakushuu’s in the same class as him.”

“Our Year Representative?”

“Yeah, and there are rumours going around saying that once Akashi Seijuurou graduates, he’ll replace him.” Talking about the school rumours was increasing her anxiety – they were Karma-sama’s only allies in this school, and leaving him with one of their biggest possible enemies was not what they were taught as the aides of the Akabane heir. 

“Is that so…” Rinka mumbled in thought, before shaking herself out of it.

“Well I guess if you’re that worried about him, we could go and look for him!” Manami perked up at that suggestion, grabbed her bento from her bag and grinned up at Rinka. 

“Let’s go!”

“Oi! Nagisa-san and the Akabane-trash are hugging in the hallway!” The two girls blinked in surprise at the shout from outside, before looking at each other – Rinka with growing comprehension and Manami in trepidation – and running out of the classroom after their classmates to where they could see the two in the hallway.

What Manami saw broke her heart, and Rinka frowned worriedly at the scene, before turning to look at her fellow aide.

_Karma-sama, are you sure this is all right?_

“You two could find some place more secluded than the school hallway to have your mushy reunion, you know.” Rinka blinked, her green eyes clearing from the sudden confusion she had from the clear and commanding voice – she recognized that voice from the Ceremony earlier. 

Asano Gakushuu walked out of the door of 1-A, rolling his eyes at the two, before looking at everyone who was staring at the scene. His eyes narrowed when he saw the both of them – Rinka knew he recognized them as Karma-sama’s aides – before giving the crowd one last sweep.

She saw Kuroko Nagisa – so that was the younger Kuroko brother, short, blue hair and blue eyes, and very pretty; just like his older brother – flush red, and Karma-sama snap out of his daze to glare at everyone looking at them. 

“Now could everyone please return to their classes? We don’t get a lot of time for lunch, and I’m sure everyone is tired and in need of both food and rest after this morning.” Asano delivered those words with his trademark professional smile that made the girls in the vicinity swoon and guys grumble; all of them followed their orders, however, except for her and Manami.

She was sure Manami was in a daze right now – Karma-sama had never mentioned Nagisa to them, but Rinka knew about Nagisa since she was in the Akabane estate that fateful day the boy was taken away, and Karma-sama had ran home crying. Manami had yet to start working for the Akabane family at that time, so she never knew that Karma-sama already had someone in mind.

Having her crush destroyed like this was pretty brutal. Rinka made a note to herself to do something nice for her after helping Karma-sama out, to cheer her up.

Turning her attention back to where her master and the Asano heir were staring each other down, she was about to clear her throat to get their attention before Kuroko Nagisa spoke up.

“Sorry, Gakushuu-kun, I just – it’s just been so long and I…” The blue-haired boy trailed off, looking up at their master before grinning at Asano. The strawberry blond sighed.

“You two do realise this will be all over the school by the time school ends, right? Not to mention, Akashi-senpai and Kuroko-senpai will hear about it soon.” Karma-sama winced, but Kuroko didn’t seemed bothered by that aspect.

“They won't tell father. You won’t tell father.” For a moment, Rinka thought she heard a hint of threat from the boy – the kind that made her shiver and her hairs stand.

“No… but someone might. He has spies all around school, after all. Acting in such a rash manner, it isn’t like you. Both of you.” Her master snorted. 

“You’ve only known me for three hours, Asano.”

“Ah, but Nagisa-kun has told me a lot about you, Akabane-kun.”

 Crap, she wasn’t about to allow Karma-sama to start a fight here. Clearing her throat, she bowed when she had the attention of the three males.

“Hayami, Okuda?” She faltered, it was intimidating enough having Karma-sama’s attention on her sometimes, it was worse with Asano and Kuroko present. 

They were, after all, rulers of this school.

“We heard the commotion,” nudging Manami out of her daze, she saw the girl nod in a hurry.

“We got worried, so…” Manami trailed off, never taking her eyes off the shortest member of the trio. The blue-haired male looked almost amused.

“Hayami-san, it’s been a while.” The green-eyed girl started at the greeting, before realizing that the other must’ve seen her around in the Akabane estate when he was still allowed there. “And you are..?”

“She’s my other aide, Okuda Manami.” Their master replied for her, and Kuroko’s expression brightened, “Ah! Nice to meet you, I’m Kuroko Nagisa. Both of you can call me Nagisa since, well,” He faltered with a slightly embarrassed look on his face, “Kuroko reminds me of my brother and my father. And it confuses people.”

“A – ah, yes, sure. Nice to meet you again, Nagisa-san.” She couldn’t help but to be entranced and caught in the returning smile Nagisa gave her, and she count understand why the boy was Nagisa-sama to so many people, despite not being the heir of the family.

“Nice to meet you, Nagisa-san…” Okuda’s greeting was a lot less enthusiastic, Rinka supposed she could understand, since it was always devastating to find out that your crush batted for the other team.

Nagisa beamed at the both of them, before turning to look at Karma-sama, “But really, I’m jealous you get two pretty aides, Karma.” Their master groaned and Asano looked amused.

“I don’t think Nagisa meant being jealous of _them_ , Akabane. Don’t get your hopes so high up.”

Nagisa smiled, “Ah, Gakushuu-kun understands me best.”

“Does he, now?”

“Now, now, Akabane. Don’t get too aggressive. I just cleared the hallway crowd, you wouldn’t want to attract them back. Go be lovey-dovey somewhere else.”

Nagisa sent Asano a grateful smile, and tugged at Karma-sama’s sleeves. He sighed, before turning to them.

“Thanks for coming. Go back to class, I’ll see the both of you after school?”

“Yes, Karma-sama.” The chorused, and watched as their master and his newly reunited lover – Rinka’s heart went out to Manami, she really did – walked off in the opposite direction.

She didn’t know why, but Asano Gakushuu turned to stare at Manami, who blinked and shrunk back at being subjected to his attention.

“… It gets better, when you get used to it.” They were then left to stare at an empty hallway as he walked back into his classroom. 

Perhaps, Rinka thought wistfully, Manami wasn’t the only person nursing a broken heart in this situation here.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Gakushuu, you poor little thing in denial, you. 
> 
> Beware of both Kuroko and Nagisa, I repeat. Beware the both of them! (And not just because they're both cute. Seriously.)
> 
> Ah I feel kind of sorry for doing that to Manami, but Sayuri was never my favourite character in the LN (way too air-headed and obsessed with Guren) - I tried to let her down gently and not write her the way Kagami-sensei did for Sayuri. 
> 
> Also, mostly sugar here to prep all of you for the upcoming things. We are mostly done with main character introductions now and will be moving on with the plot (which has actually been progressing if you've been paying close enough attention); and then Karma gets more screen-time with the others. One little problem though, I've yet to start on chapter four since I'm still settling into my apartment (.... Damn you Ikea drawers UGH) and my roommate isn't here to help me with the building of furnitures x_x|. (Funny fact, Chapter 3 was finished the day I posted Chapter 2 AHAHAHAHAHA /cries) 
> 
> Interactions-wise, we've covered Karma-Gakushuu, Akashi-Tetsuya, Akashi-Nagisa, Karma-Nagisa, a little of Akashi-Gakushuu and Gakushuu-Nagisa. We're left with Gakushuu-Tetsuya and of course, Nagisa-Tetsuya. Can't wait for both of those, lol.


	4. cupiditas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _cupiditas - enthusiasm/eagerness/passion (with negative association)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our main couples get all the spotlight in this chapter. Oh and Shiro's here (I really hate him - he makes the perfect Saito, seriously).
> 
> Also, Tetsuya-Nagisa flashbacks (!!!)

If there was something in this world that was perfect, this would be it.

Karma beside him, holding his hand, after all these years.

He felt the light breeze on the quiet rooftop, making his pigtails sway slightly. It didn’t bother him that his hair was going to be a mess after this.

Nothing could bother him at this moment. He squeezed Karma’s hand tighter, and turned around to smile at the taller male when he felt Karma squeeze his in return.

He didn’t want to break the precious silence, for it felt like the Karma standing in front of him was just an illusion – like the numerous ones that he’d been subjected to – and he was going to disappear the moment Nagisa spoke.

However, no illusion could mimic how warm the other’s hand felt, holding onto his.

“It’s been a long while.”

Karma hummed in response, turning fully towards him – Nagisa reciprocated the action in return so that they were facing each other – and bringing him into an embrace with his unoccupied arm.

He closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth that welled up in him at that action. 

Even the darkness in him dissipates when he was beside Karma. Nagisa knew he had nothing to fear when the other was with him, not his father, not the endless darkness he’d been subjected to since _that_ day, not even himself. 

It was for that reason he wanted desperately to remain with Karma. For all that he was unsure about this world, he known something since the moment he met Akabane Karma.

They were meant to be, regardless of what father or anyone else claimed. 

The calm and happiness he felt at this moment was proof of that.

“Yes, yes it has.”

“How’ve you been?”

“Didn’t do anything much, I guess.” The redhead mentioned casually, “Things were…” _different, since you left._

Boring, excruciating, full of goom. Nagisa understood those all too well. Perhaps even better than Karma did.

Karma buried his face into his hair, and he let out a light giggle when he felt it tickle.

“You?” _Ah, here it comes…_

“Same, nothing much.” He had no choice but to lie, even without Akashi-san and nii-sama swearing him into silence, he didn’t want Karma to know about his current situation. Not when it could still be put off for a good amount of time.

If he had a choice, he didn’t want Karma to know, ever. 

However, he understood, he was running short on time. Time to remain in this school as a normal student, as one of the sons of the prestigious Kuroko family, as a member of the Teikou army, and as a normal human being.

Time to spend with Karma.

He didn’t want the other to spend whatever they had left – too little, they always had too little and it was frustrating – worrying about him.

The redhead chuckled in response, but did not speak. 

Should Nagisa be offered one wish at this moment, it would be that he never wanted this to end.

* * *

 

Kuroko Tetsuya was a simple person – that was the opinion he’d offer you if you asked what he thought about himself. He was quiet most of the time, didn’t require much in life - he never asked for much from the servants in his house – and only had one goal.

To make Akashi Seijuurou the ruler of this world.

The upcoming apocalypse will, without doubt, eradicate majority of the human population, targeting humans over the age of thirteen. There was a way to survive, and part of Tetsuya’s job was to ensure that the vaccine for the virus was complete.

His deadline was set for Christmas. The destruction of the old world, and its chaotic aftermath ripe for Sei-kun’s taking.

“I have to say, Kuroko Tetsuya, you’re the most brilliant human I’ve seen in a while.” The Kuroko scion offered the male sitting in front of him a bland expression. Flattery was always unnecessary in his opinion – his abilities shined because he was using them for Sei-kun.

If it were for his father, it’d be a different matter entirely.

“Not a fan of compliments, I see? You’re as cold as usual.” The robed male commented lightly, standing up and walking towards one of the several computer terminals placed on the tables surrounding them.

“However, it is thanks to you that we are able to achieve this major breakthrough. How’s the weapon coming along?” The katana resting beside him turned warm as he placed his palm on the sheath.

“It’s useable. We could do a test-run against one of your experiments if you’d like.”

“Haha, there’s no need to. I heard you’d cut down a vampire with that?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that means it’s working. Lets hope the rest of our journey goes along as smoothly as it has thus far. Speaking of, when does Nagisa plan to take action?”

“As soon as we’ve stabilized the weapons to make it useable for him.”

Shiro made a noise in reply.

“Aren’t you worried, about that thing inside him taking over?”

“Not at all.”

“Oh? That’s an awful amount of confidence in your brother, considering that we are dealing with a demon.”

“It’s not that.” Tetsuya closed his eyes.

“Then?”

He paused for a moment, before opening his eyes again, feeling the brief hint of a smile flitting on his lips.

“It wouldn’t matter even if it did.”

The older male laughed.

“My, my, Kuroko Tetsuya. It seems like the general public has underestimated you severely. Going against your own family, and sacrificing your own brother in the process?” Shiro shook his head, or Tetsuya thought he did, since the only indication of it was a rustle in that bulky white robe.

“How heartless can you get? Or, perhaps, have you already been consumed by your own demons? Even I can only wonder, what you’re up to.”

This time, Tetsuya smiled for real.

“That’s for me to know, isn’t it, Shiro-san?” Fingering his katana lightly, he grabbed the sheath and stood up, making his way towards the door.

“Nagisa will come to you soon. Don’t forget our plans." 

“I won’t, Kuroko- _sama_.” He resisted the urge to sigh at the mockingly articulated suffix.

 _What I’m up to, huh…_ Tetsuya thought wryly, _it hasn’t changed since then, and it wouldn’t change now._

Plus, Nagisa’s own dedication towards Akabane Karma fit in perfectly with his plans. He had no doubt that his brother would carry out his own part properly.

 _Nothing can stop us, because they won’t see us coming._ He took out his cellphone and entered a message for Nagisa.

_Preparations are ready. Shiro’s  
_ _waiting for your arrival._

**Sent, 12:56**

 

He couldn’t wait for the day the Kuroko house finally fell.

The katana in his hand pulsed at that thought.

_“Nagisa? What happened?”_

_“Te… Tetsuya-nii-sama… Karma… I – I…” Twelve year-old Tetsuya knelt beside his brother, who had collapsed on the floor of the foyer the moment he was brought in by the family’s guards, tears flowing from his sapphire blue eyes._

_“Akabane-kun..? What about him?”_

_“Nagisa’s forbidden from seeing him.” The cold voice of his father drew Tetsuya’s attention, he snapped his head up to look into oppressing cobalt blue eyes. However, his father’s angered expression wasn’t directed at him._

_It was directed at Nagisa._

_He felt his younger brother shiver and drew him closer into his arms._

_“That’s not fair, father! Even if the Akabane family is –”_

_“Silence, Tetsuya.” The blue haired boy felt his mouth clamp shut at the command and seethed silently. “Nagisa is not to go to the Akabane estate anymore, and that is final.” His father moved his icy expression onto Tetsuya, and the heir bit his lips to try and stop himself from shivering from the sudden coldness he felt._

_“That goes the same for you, Tetsuya. If I find out that you’re in communication with the Akabane family, there will be dire consequences, am I clear?”_

_Tetsuya nodded his head reluctantly, tightening his grip on Nagisa’s shoulders as he watched their father depart into the hallways._

“Ah, you’re back. How did it go?” Seijuurou looked up from his paperwork as Tetsuya entered his study.

“Shiro-san’s preparations are complete. Now all we have to do is wait for Nagisa’s move, and we can begin the whole thing.” The phantom replied with a tired smile, he hadn’t wanted to see anyone on his way back, so he’d minimised his presence as much as possible to avoid the servants doing their duties around the house.

The Akashi heir raised a eyebrow, having picked up on his fiancé’s low mood, before arranging the papers in hands into a neat pile, and turning his chair around so that Tetsuya could approach him.

“Here,” He patted his lap, and Tetsuya smiled gratefully at him, before setting down his katana and climbing onto the redhead’s thighs. He sighed in contentment when he felt Seijuurou wrap his arms around his waist, and snuggled into the other’s shoulders.

“Well, isn’t this rare? For you to be in such a mood.”

“… I have days like this too, Sei-kun.” He grumbled softly, hitting the other’s shoulder lightly with the heel of his palm. Seijuurou chuckled, pressing a brief kiss onto his temple.

“Did you inform Nagisa?”

“Yes, I did. He said he’ll act as soon as he is able to.” Tetsuya sighed, raising his head to peer intensely at his betrothed.

“What’s wrong?” The other asked in a whisper, feeling Tetsuya’s hands cup his face and lowering his eyelids when the blue-haired male pressed their foreheads together.

“Nothing… It’s… just… I’d do anything for you, Sei-kun.”

“Tetsuya?”

“Anything.” The younger boy closed his eyes, and Seijuurou heard the slight tremble in the other’s voice.

“… I know.” He replied gently – Seijuurou knew that fact as well as he knew his own name, that there was nothing Tetsuya wouldn’t do for him, and he for Tetsuya.

* * *

 

The moment he felt his cellphone buzz, Nagisa knew that the time had come. He shut his eyes and tried hard to repress his urge to just  jump up and throw the device away and pretend that it never existed.

He was right – he and Karma had never had enough time, and will probably never have enough.

 _Isn’t that why you’re doing this? So that the both of you can be together forever?_ He gripped the edges of his table tightly, wishing that the voice in his head would just go away.

_I’ll never leave, since I am a part of you – the deepest, ugliest, most heinous part of you. I can make sure that you’ll be at Karma’s side forever, isn’t that what you've always wanted, hmm?_

“Nagisa?”

Shut up, shut up, shut up – just shut up!

“Nagisa-san?”

He snapped his eyes open, meeting Akari’s bewildered ones and scowled inwardly when he saw that he’d attracted the attention of the whole class. The teacher, who was staring at him worriedly, spoke up.

“Do you want to go the infirmary, Nagisa-kun? Yukimura-san can accompany you.” He shook his head at Akari, who’d gotten ready to stand up, before smiling lightly at their teacher.

“It’s fine, sensei. I’ll be able to go on my own.” His steps were surprisingly stable, and he was out of the door before anyone could voice any objections. Sighing, he reached into his pocket and brought up his phone, opening it to see a message from his brother.

 

 _Preparations are ready. Shiro’s  
_ _waiting for your arrival._

**Seen, 13:00**

 

He was right, a twinge of sadness pulled at his heart.

The world was never going to give them – Karma and he – enough chances.

 _We’ll just have to create those chances, don’t we?_  

Nagisa continued down the hallway towards the infirmary, with the voice in his head reminding him why he had agreed to this madness in the first place.

_"Nii-sama?” He looked up into Tetsuya’s slightly troubled eyes. The older boy was hovering by his bedside, biting his lips and looking hesitant._

_“Nagisa… I have… a way,” He paused, “A way for you to see Akabane-kun again.” Nagisa perked up at his brother’s words._

_“How? Father will be monitoring me from now on, and…”_

_“It’ll take a while, a long while. But I promise, at the end of it, you’ll be able to be with Akabane-kun, forever.”_

_“Forever?”_

_“Mm.” His brother didn’t elaborate, but continued to stare at him with clouded azure eyes._

_“I’ll do it. I’ll do anything to be together with Karma.”_

He'd made a vow, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay very close attention to both Tetsuya and Nagisa, they aren't exactly the sanest people right now. Hence the chapter title. I don't know whether to be scared of them or pity them. Maybe both. Mmmm....
> 
> I might have to take some time to settle how I want the chapters to be structured after this, since my planning only goes up to chapter four... A...hahaha oops. Any important details that won't make it into the flow of the fic will be posted as side-stories (or interludes), there might be one coming up soon.


	5. exitum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _exitum - departure_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to cover a lot more this chapter... But it... got away from me? Ish.
> 
> Have I mentioned how much I love all of you? Your support means a lot to me, thank you! <3 
> 
> This might be a bit too late, but I'm using Asano's anime appearance because I like it better (....) - look at those unique eyes (and his hair hnnnng)!

They remained in the Student Council room for a solid hour, with Tetsuya seated on Seijuurou’s lap, head buried in the redhead’s shoulders.

That was how Midorima Shintarou found them. Said green-haired sniper walked in and held back his greeting at seeing Akashi and Kuroko together, Akashi gesturing to him to make his way into the adjacent conference room to finish his Council duties.

Kuroko hadn’t seemed to notice his entrance at all.

When the two finally separated, the blue-haired male dropped by the conference room to offer a greeting to Midorima, before leaving the room once again. With a sigh, Midorima pushed his glasses and stood up to see Akashi standing behind his desk, facing out of the window. 

“What happened to him?” He decided to satiate his own curiosity, but Akashi merely chuckled, turning to look straight at him. It took all he had to not shudder at the other’s expression.

“Nothing you should be concerned about, Shintarou. Now, I don’t think I need to tell you to not mention this incident to anyone.” Midorima scoffed, fingers tightening on the manekineko plush toy in his hand – his lucky item for the day – glaring at Akashi.

“As if I would-nanodayo.” The other looked amused.

“Well, sorry if I offended you.” _Yeah right,_ he knew Akashi didn’t care – but was simply polite enough with him to offer this explanation.

This was about as close as one could get to Akashi Seijuurou, without being Kuroko Tetsuya.

“You know, Shintarou.” Midorima blinked in surprise at the wistful tone in the other’s words, “Things will get… interesting, pretty soon.”

“… Interesting?”

“Mmhm, tell Kazunari to pay close attention to Nagisa, and report all of his observations back to me.”

“Kuroko’s brother?” 

“A few months ago, we found a leak in the higher echelons of the Teikou Army, didn’t we?” Midorima did remember that, Momoi had been the one who to notify the whole of Kiseki no Sedai – Akashi’s squad, a group of five geniuses – on the possible double-crossing of one of their own. Majority of the Kuroko family secrets had been given away to the Brotherhood of the Thousand Nights, including all the Teikou Imperial Army’s research on Kiju, weapons utilizing the souls of summoned demons trapped in their vessels.

The Kuroko family had developed those weapons with their vast knowledge in spellcasting, and the project had flourished since Kuroko took over that part of the household.

Kuroko Tetsuo was nowhere as brilliant and as gifted as Kuroko Tetsuya was. Midorima personally thought it was good riddance the man had relieved himself of the responsibilities of the Kiju research.

“Yes, I believe Momoi told us about it.”

“Tetsuya and I have located the source of the leak,” The sharp-shooter took in a sharp breath, Akashi couldn’t be implying… 

“…and we found that Nagisa had been the person communicating with the Brotherhood.”

“Kuroko Nagisa?” He supposed the scene that he’d walked into did make sense in light of all this, Kuroko must have been crushed to realise that his own brother was the one selling out all his secrets to their enemy. 

The Brotherhood had been at odds with the Teikou Army for eons, and with Kuroko Nagisa’s treason, all the advantages the Army had gained had been lost. 

Midorima frowned, giving Akashi a half-bow.

“I’ll get Takao to track Nagisa’s movements straightaway, shall I inform the others?”

“We don’t have solid proof for now, but Tetsuya and I are thinking of bringing this up to General Kuroko the moment he takes action. Tell Kazunari to report to me directly the moment Nagisa makes his move, is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.” _This is going to get very messy,_ he thought grimly.

 

* * *

 

Nagisa had never held any love for the Kuroko family. Growing up in an environment full of neglect had only increased his dislike for the name. Dislike that bloomed into hatred the day he was taken away from the Akabane household and was forbidden to visit Karma. 

Karma. That very name pulled on his heartstrings, his dishonoured knight without an armour, the prince of a fallen bloodline, doomed to never reign at the top.

He’d just have to change that, and destroying the Kuroko line was the way to do so.

Nagisa’s love was all for Karma, and Karma alone. However, he was still fond of the mansion he’d grown up in.

Parts of it, anyway. 

Therefore, he’d chosen to spend the last of his time in the Kuroko estate in its gardens. His brother used to grow flowers here with the gardeners when he was younger, whenever he wanted to go out for a walk instead of holing up in his room with his books. Nagisa remembers joining him sometime.

His favourite was the _shion_ , the purple aster that bloomed in the fall.

Someone – he could no longer recall who – once told him that its _hanakotoba_ was “remembrance”.

He wondered offhandedly, as he wandered through the maze of budding asters and anemones, if anyone would remember him as he had been once this whole ordeal was over.

If he himself would remember how he used to be, when it all ended.

It was too bad he couldn’t see the _shion_ bloom this year, since it could be his very last time seeing them. He couldn’t take care of them with nii-sama, and he couldn’t fulfill his dream of making a bouquet of anemone and _shion_ for Karma.

The prospect of being with Karma forever made every single regret he had pale in comparison.

Perhaps he’d order a bouquet for Karma, after he’s left the household.

Taking in a deep breath, he took out his phone.

_“Hello?”_

“…Shiro-san.”

_“Ah, Nagisa-kun! Ready to come over?”_

“... Yes.” 

_“Don’t sound so sad, Nagisa-kun. We’ll meet at the rendezvous point at ten tonight.”_

“Mm. I’ll see you then.” Disconnecting the call before the other could reply, he bit his lips, staring blankly at the green bushes, where he knew his favourite flowers would be booming in a month’s time. 

 _Shion_ , purple aster. Their colour.

Maybe he could get nii-sama to write their story down one day, when this was all over, so that someone out there would remember them.

Akari was right, they were the bloody Romeo and Juliet of this century. He can’t believe he’d just admitted it.

Sighing, he pocketed his phone and made his way out of the garden. That had been obvious enough for the annoying pair of eyes stalking him.

He had a job to complete.

 

* * *

 

Tetsuya sighed as he read through Seijuurou’s text. 

 _Kazunari’s tracked Nagisa to his_  
_rendezvous point, I’ve had him_  
_pull back. Ready?_  
**Seen, 10:13**

He bit his lips, sky blue eyes wandering off from the screen to the papers scattered on his table, filled with diagrams. Closing his eyes, he grimaced – his brother had already taken action, it was too late to go back now.

 _Yes.  
_ **Sent, 10:13**

Several miles away, in the Akashi estate, Seijuurou smiled when he received Tetsuya’s reply.

“Kaoru-san.” He called for his personal attendant.

“Yes, Seijuurou-sama?”

“Could you please inform father that I would like to have an audience with him? Do tell him it’s urgent.”

 

* * *

 

Karma yawned, stretching his limbs as his classmates began to enter the classroom one by one, exchanging greetings and small talk with one another. Asano shot him a dirty look as he nimbly avoided getting hit by his fist.

“Do you mind, Akabane?”

“Hmmm?” Said person folded his hands behind his head, opening one eye to stare lazily at the strawberry blond, “not really~?”

Asano rolled his eyes, sitting down and propping his chin on his hand.

“We – as in the whole level – have our physical ability test today, don’t slack off.” Since First Shibuya High was also a feeder institution for the Teikou Army, majority of the students were battle-trained and were expected to be tested based on their physical capabilities in combat. He eyed the Akabane heir carefully for any kind of reaction, it was entirely likely that…

“Huh? We do?”

 _Knew it,_ he sighed inwardly, “It’s held in a match-up tournament style, and one class will be pitted against another, with their students in one-on-one matches.”

“Does that mean I won’t get to fight you?”

“I didn’t know you were prepared to do so.” He felt a vein tick when Akabane laughed.

“No way, against Asano Gakushuu- _sama_ , Akashi Seijuurou- _sama_ ’s successor, there’s no way this lowlife Akabane can win.”

“Damn right, you fodder.” The strawberry blond was at the end of his wits with both Akabane at Terasaka. He knew the redhead was capable, strong and smart, and was hiding it just to ensure that he didn’t attract the attention of the other families – that, or he was just plain lazy, which Asano bet he was. What annoyed him even further was that Terasaka Ryouma’s brain was apparently so small he’d failed to comprehend that fact.

“Too bad we can’t fight against you, would totally wipe the floor with you.” Terasaka sneered, and Karma merely shrugged, the other scowling and stomping away when he’d failed to get a reaction.

Asano sighed.

“Nice job there.”

“Haa? Doesn’t take much to fool that dead last.”

“…" 

“What?”

“How long do you plan on acting like this?”

“Like what?”

“Don’t play stupid, anyone with half a brain can see that you’re extremely capable. You’re just not trying.”

“I’m not. Besides, it’d look bad on everyone here if the Akabane-trash were to trounce them in everything, right?”

“Akashi-senpai isn’t going to take action against you anytime soon, it seems. So why do you have to worry?”

“You said yesterday that the Kuroko and Akashi families have spies lying around in school, and not all of them report to Akashi or Kuroko, do they? I’m not in the mood to get chased around by General and Lt. General-sama.”

Seeing that Asano had no comeback to that, Karma kicked back and rested his feet on his table, smirking.

Karma: 1, Asano: 0. 

The day was off to a very good start.

Now, he’d just have to find a way to see Nagisa during lunch again, since he’d missed him when he came to school this morning.

 

* * *

 

It was no secret that Karma hated student congregations of all kind; the annual physical abilitiy test included. His only saving grace is the fact that the test was at least more interesting than sitting around and listening to some geezer talk.

“Karma-sama.” He looked up at Hayami, who had called out to him. His aides were standing in front of him, Hayami wore a determined look, and Okuda with a similar expression amidst her nervous jitters.

“It seems that our classes have been selected to compete against each other, I won’t hold back.” Karma raised an eyebrow, he hadn’t known which class they’d been selected to go against, and Asano groaned beside him. 

“I told you a while ago Kataoka-san and I drew 1-C as our opponent, didn’t I?”

“Must’ve slipped my mind.” He snickered when Asano rolled his eyes and went back to watching the school faculty set up the arena for the battles. 

“Well, it seems our classes will be opponents, now.” Karma smiled at the two girls in front of him, “Good luck.” 

Okuda flushed pink and Hayami's eyes widened in surprise at their master’s rare show of sincerity.

“Yes!”

Looking back at his aides’ retreating backs, the redhead blinked as he remembered something.

“Does that mean 1-B and 1-D are going to go at it with each other?” He nudged Asano, who nodded in reply, lavender irises automatically scanning 1-B’s part of the arena. Karma followed suit, before frowning in concern.

“I don’t see Nagisa anywhere.” The strawberry blond frowned.

“I’d assumed he was just running late, but I do see Yukimura-san and Sugino-kun.” Ah, he could put names to brunette and raven-haired boy now, “It isn’t like him to be absent entirely.”

Wait, “You mean you guys don’t talk on a daily basis?”

“Do you?”

“No, but there’s a good reason for that,” Karma snapped, despite being able to meet Nagisa again, they were still unable to communicate anywhere outside of school – even seeing each other in school was difficult enough, what with the spies lurking around in the student body – thanks to the monitoring done on both of them. 

“…No, we’re not that close.”

Karma couldn’t even form his reply before an explosion rocked the arena, blowing off the walls behind them.

 

* * *

 

“Yukimura, where’s Nagisa?” Akari started when Sugino took the empty seat beside her, and frowned. 

“I don’t know… He wasn’t at homeroom today. I don’t think he came to school today, actually.”

The baseball player snorted, “Well that’s obvious. Is he ill? He seemed really out of it in class yesterday…”

Akari bit her lips, wringing her hands together, linking and separating her fingers, before repeating.

“I got this really weird text from him last evening…”

“Weird text?”

“Mmhm,” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, showing Sugino the message. He frowned the moment he read its contents. 

“Thank you for everything…? What is this?”

“I don’t know – he was acting weird in class yesterday, remember? And then I tried calling him and there was no reply –”

She couldn’t finish her sentence, for the next moment a loud blast filled her ears and screams were echoing through the stadium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akashi you bloody liar - I personally think I'm writing Kureto!Akashi pretty well (laughs her ass off). They are both liars through and through. 
> 
> The _shion_ and anemone are both flowers that bloom in the Fall. Also, purple aster stands for remembrance, while white anemone stands for sincerity in hanakotoba. 
> 
> Finally we get to move onto the plot soon. Like next chapter soon.
> 
> If you're wondering why Nagisa texted Akari and not Asano, it's because he's closer to Akari than he is to Asano - Akari is his best friend and Gakushuu is.... third-wheel fodder for Karmagisa (*wincesI*okaynotreallysorry). Also, Gakushuu's the heir of a prominent family in the army, while Akari's just Akari. Nagisa wasn't going to risk anyone other than Akashi and Tetsuya knowing that he's taken action, and Asano's sharp, so he'd suspect. 
> 
> I'm on a roll, lets see how long this continues (no this is not a common thing, and also this is the first time I've hit over 10k on a fic... and I've been writing for how long? QAQ I'm a failure...)
> 
> Also, I've discovered a new love for Karma's voice, which was weird considering I didn't like it before... And now I hear Okamoto-san's voice going "kiritsu rei lock on" and it makes me grin dizzily and my knees weak (....)
> 
> Has anyone seen Korotan C? Apparently Gakushuu-kun was some escort for a princess..? Ah that fanservice /has mixed feelings about it.


	6. aporia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _aporia - perplexity, doubt, embarrassment, disorder_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot's in full roll~ So am I, actually. This chapter came a bit later since my friend came over for Labour Day weekend (happy LD for those in North America!) and we were busy all weekend. I'm also running out of drafts... Ahahhaa. oops. 
> 
> The Miragen makes an appearance in this, especially since I think I've been concentrating too much on the ansatsu characters.
> 
> And I posted a snippet of what happens after this story! Guess you can put off reading it until after this is complete... (If I get there)

Both Asano and Karma reacted the moment the blast reverberated through the stadium, Asano placing multiple shield charms around the student body and Karma activating his own protection charm for both himself and the other.

That, however, did not stop the smoke from blanketing the entire area, Karma shut his eyes and covered his mouth, coughing a little when he breathed in some of the smoke. 

“What, the – hell?!”

“Well, isn’t this interesting. It seems you are quite the skilled caster after all, Asano Gakushuu.” The aforementioned boy hissed, opening his eyes when the smoke finally dissipated, and looked up at the source of the voice.

Said perpetrator was dressed in white robes, with a white hood and white mask covering his face, he could barely make out the other’s eyes amongst the clothing covering his figure.

 _A levitation charm?_ Karma thought, looking at the figure before narrowing his eyes at the emblem situated edge where the other’s hood met his robes. 

“Asano, that symbol.” The other boy nodded his head.

“Aah, they’re from the Brotherhood.” That drew his attention to several other individuals following behind the person who had spoken.

“Oh, so you do know of us.”

“Shouldn't be a surprise, really, the Brotherhood has been an enemy of the Imperial Army for centuries now, it’s only natural that heirs of the important families know of your existence.” Asano shot back, raising an eyebrow and smirking at the white-robed figure. Karma groaned mentally, he didn’t know how strong Asano was – okay that’s bullshit, he knew the other was powerful, but after casting a strong spell to protect the students, he didn’t know how much reserves the other had left – but it was pretty much suicidal of him to be taunting their attacker.

“Educated, but cocky. I see.” The figure then turned his attention to Karma, who frowned, feeling scrutinized.

“And you’re Akabane Karma…”

“What if I am?” A chuckle from the other deepened his frown.

“Nothing, it’s just that, Nagisa-kun has told me so much about you.” They stiffened, “Both of you, but Akabane-kun, especially.” 

“Karma-sama!” He saw, from the corner of his eyes, Okuda and Hayami running towards him, and gestured for them to stop. They obeyed reluctantly, both shooting identical glares at the white figure.

“He’s always going on and on about you,” Karma gritted his teeth, “And lamenting about his fate. Seems like he holds you in high esteem, Akabane-kun.”

“What did you do to him?” 

“Nothing. He’s just been a great help to me for bringing the Brotherhood up to par with the Imperial Army. Today’s little firework,” He gestured to the damaged stadium, “Was just a little greeting.”

Asano and Karma exchanged identical looks.

“What do you mean by that?” The lavender-eyed boy demanded, his eyes burning with an anger Karma had never seen before.

“Exactly what I said.”

“There’s no way Nagisa-kun would offer you information of any kind, much less work with you!”

“And that’s where the both of you are wrong,” He chuckled, “You two have no idea what Nagisa-kun is really like, do you?”

A rain of green arrows interrupted their rebuttal, and the robed individual jumped back to avoid the attack – Karma knew that attack style anywhere, the sharp-shooter of the Kiseki no Sedai – as well as the follow up assault from the rest of the third year aces.

“It seems that my time here has been cut short. Ah, and I have yet to introduce myself. Apologies. You may call me Shiro.” He tilted his head – or they thought he did, since all they saw was a rustle of cloth – and turned to leave. 

“Wait, what did you mean by that?” Karma snapped at the man – Shiro – who laughed in amusement.

“Same as before, exactly what I said. We’ll see each other again, but now that the Brotherhood has declared war on the Army, try to stay alive until then, hm?” He looked back at the two of them, “Otherwise, Nagisa-kun would be so upset, Asano-kun, Akabane-kun.”

They watched helplessly as Shiro disappeared with a flash of light – a teleportation spell, Karma didn’t think that was possible – and looked at each other with varying degrees of confusion and anger.

“Karma-sama! Are you all right?” He nodded at Okuda, who had ran up to him and was examining him for injuries, with Hayami following behind.

“I’m fine, are you two okay?”

“We’re okay. But what was that about?” Hayami asked, straight to the point, looking at both of them. They faltered – neither of them could explain what just happened, and they were still trying to wrap their minds around Nagisa’s possible involvement in this whole incident.

Karma really didn’t want to think too deeply about what Shiro was implying. 

“That, was a declaration of war.” The two boys frowned, Okuda jumped and Hayami blinked in surprise at the fifth voice. They turned to see Akashi Seijuurou walking towards them, the rest of the Kiseki no Sedai following behind him.

“Gakushuu, Karma, I have something to tell both of you. Follow me.”

He didn’t like this, and judging from Asano’s expression, it was clear he shared the same sentiments.

 

* * *

 

He hadn’t expected his first visit to the Student Council room to be under such circumstances, Karma mused while following the imposing figure of Akashi. It was amazing how much presence a person shorter than both he and Asano could have, and to have four other geniuses following his every orders? 

Akashi Seijuurou really was one of a kind.

Not like the people following him were any more normal, either. Sighing, Karma stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket, and let his eyes wander on the four other individuals walking alongside them. 

Sheesh, they really are a weird bunch, from their hair colours to their habits.

There was Midorima Shintarou, their Council Vice-President, who never went anywhere without his lucky item – from a fortune-telling show called Oha-Asa, or something – and was the prodigious shooter-cum-sniper-cum-medic of the Kiseki no Sedai. He had green hair, who the hell has green hair? Then again, not like he could talk, having bright red hair and everything.

Kise Ryouta, the all-rounder. Karma’s heard rumours about him beind able to do every single kind of attacks possible, from close one-on-ones to carrying out guerrilla hit and run tactics, his spell-casting was apparently pretty good as well. If he had to choose, Kise had the most normal hair colour out of the bunch. At least being blond is _common_. (Strawberry blond, however... Asano probably got his hair colour from his mother, since Karma knew the current Asano head was a brunet.)

Murasakibara Atsushi, whose tall and bulky physique made him ideal for defense during one-on-ones, he was also a defense genius and led the army’s defense squads. It was hard to believe since he’s always walking around with a bag of… something, different kinds of food, in his hands. Also, purple hair. There’s no way he could be normal.

Lastly, Aomine Daiki, the attack specialist of the Kiseki no Sedai. Leader of the attack specialist squad in the Teikou army, he was apparently a force to behold during individual battles. He was also Kuroko Tetsuya’s ex-partner, if what Karma heard from the grapevine was true, until Nagisa’s brother withdrew from the forces and started taking charge of the spell development. He supposed he could give the blue hair a pass – Sugino had dark blue hair too, and Nagisa and Kuroko’s were light blue. 

“I can read your mind from here, you might want to tone down the judgement a little.” Asano hissed at him, and Karma shrugged – it was the only thing he could do to keep his mind off Shiro’s words. He could tell that it was affecting his fellow first year, since Asano’s frown had yet to disappear ever since Shiro’s arrival.

Akashi led them into the adjacent conference room, and gestured for them to take a seat. Exchanging glances, they each took their seats and watched as Akashi settled himself into the chair at the very head of the table.

“As you might have inferred from the attack just now, the Brotherhood of a Thousand Nights has officially declared war on the Teikou Imperial Army.” He started, folding his hands together and placing his elbow on the table. “I have informed General Kuroko and Lt. General Akashi of the situation at hand, and we will be taking actions accordingly.”

“But what’s important, is that we have uncovered the identity of the mole in the Kuroko household.” Asano and Karma looked up at him with identical expressions of shock and denial. Akashi answered them with a flat look.

“Four months back, we were alerted to a leak from within the Kuroko household. Important information on current projects were being given to the Brotherhood, and Tetsuya and I investigated the source.” Karma shut his eyes and clenched his fists, Asano was gritting his teeth so loudly he could hear it from beside him.

“We determined the leak to be from Kuroko Nagisa, and yesterday, we confirmed that he was communicating with the Brotherhood – with the man, Shiro, just now – thanks to Shintarou’s subordinate,” The Council President nodded at Midorima, “General Kuroko has handed down the order for Kuroko Nagisa to be branded as a traitor, and to be captured or killed on sight.”

“He wouldn’t do this.” Those words didn’t come from Karma, surprisingly, and the redhead snapped his eyes open to look at Asano, who was now glaring at his lap, hands fisting his pants.

Akashi raised an eyebrow.

“Your denial isn’t going to make the facts less real, Gakushuu. Nagisa hasn’t been seen since yesterday, when he met Shiro at Shinjuku station, and Tetsuya has confirmed that he did not return this morning either.”

For the first time in his life, Karma didn’t know what to say. He’d known what to say when he was being bullied and looked down on as the Akabane scion – act weak, lay low, don’t be serious and they won’t ever take you seriously and your chance will come – and he’d even known what to say when Nagisa had been taken away – words filled with hate and determination, because he will be reunited with Nagisa _one day_ and nothing could stand in their way – but he was at a complete loss for words.

“Does Kurokocchi know about this?”

“Man, Tetsu must be beat, knowing that his own brother’s done this.”

"Poor Kuro-chin~"

“Tetsuya is taking the day off today, don’t worry about him too much, I’ll be seeing him after school.”

That’s why, Karma remained silent. 

_You little coward, can’t even find words to try to overturn Akashi’s argument. No one’s actually seen Nagisa passing information to Shiro – you could’ve argued for him._

_You didn’t._  

He wondered what Nagisa would think of that if he knew.

 

* * *

 

The two of them left the room in a somber silence, walking down the empty hallways – school was canceled for a few days in order for security measures to be increased, as well as to renovate the damaged arena – neither of them looking at one another, preferring to stare at their moving feet instead.

With their head down, how… defeatist.

_That’s how you’ve been your whole life, isn’t it?_

“What the hell was that?” Karma looked up in question at Asano, who was looking at him pointedly.

“Back there. You didn’t say a single word in Nagisa-kun’s defense.” Lavender eyes narrowed at wide, golden ones, and Karma looked away first, grimacing at the floor. 

“Really? And you claim to love Nagisa-kun like this?” He scrunched his eyes close, gritting his teeth and clenching his hands.

“Answer me, Akabane!”

“There’s nothing to say, alright! The Army has labeled Nagisa as a traitor. It’s _my_ – it’s _our_ – word against theirs, who’s going to listen to us?”

He supposed he did deserve the punch delivered to his face, which was why he didn’t react when he saw it coming. Falling onto the floor on his behind, he scowled at the floor, fingers brushing against the tender skin of his cheeks.

“Seems like I’ve underestimated you, Akabane.” Karma closed his eyes, feeling the dull ache in his heart – Asano was right, he’s never done anything for Nagisa when Nagisa needed it – before opening them and looking up at the other.

Asano was staring down at him with stormy lavender eyes, his lips pressed into a thin line, right hand still balled into a fist. Karma felt a chill run down his spine.

The urge to laugh hysterically suddenly overwhelmed him, and he pressed his palm to his face and did so.

_“There’s no way you’ll ever be good enough for Nagisa-sama!”_

_“Oh, so you’re the Akabane-brat? How does it feel to be in a fallen family?”_

_“It’s okay, Karma, I swear I’ll do anything for us to be together. I promise”_

He felt moisture sliding down his cheeks, stinging the newly bruised flesh, and that was when he realised that he was crying.

Something he hadn’t done since the day Nagisa was taken away right in front of him.

Asano sighed, before settling down on the floor beside him, resting his back against the walls of the hallway. They remained in a comfortable silence, and Karma was glad that Asano didn't comment on his tears.

“You know, it’s not too late to start trying, for Nagisa-kun’s sake.” 

“…We can’t change the fact that they’ve deemed him as an enemy.”

“… No, but we might be able to help by finding out what happened to Nagisa-kun.”

“Trying to clear his name?” Karma snorted, “What if it’s really as Akashi says?” His companion paused. 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we’ve reached it.”

The redhead chuckled at the uncharacteristic reply.

“Fair enough.” Sniffing and wiping away his tears, he accepted Asano’s offer of a tissue – that guy carried tissues on his person?! – and blinked when he held out a hand to him. 

He smiled, and took the other’s hand.

“Akabane-kun, Asano-kun?” They started at the soft voice calling their name, and turned to see brunette – Yukimura, Karma reminded himself – and Sugino standing at the other end of the hallway, near the turn towards the stairs.

Which explains why neither of them heard them coming, Karma wasn't about to blame his lack of concentration on his emotional episode. 

“We have questions for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've read Ichinose Guren: Catastrophe at Sixteen, you'll realise that I've combined Karma's snarky attitude with a little bit of Guren's defeatist one, since the situation is a little different from ansatsu!canon. Poor Karma. I promise he'd get better. Over time. Soon. (Maybe?)
> 
> Meanwhile omg Asano. (My chapter-ly dose of Asano fangirling... ahahahaha ;;)
> 
> Everyone doubts Nagisa (although Akashi is a liar through and through) and Karma doubts himself. Nice.
> 
> Kudos and comments much appreciated, guys :D


	7. ostium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _ostium - entry_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 15k *claps and cheers for self* 
> 
> I'm quite surprised I managed to make it this far ahahaha ;; oops...
> 
> Updates will begin to slow down since school's starting next week and I have to prep :( - also I'm stuck on Chapter 9, because I'm not too sure if I want to write smut as of yet. Please comment and tell me if you want to see smut or not - it's not the main point of this story but I'm not opposed to writing it... just fyi I'm not super good at it so. 
> 
> I will try to keep updates to twice per week, but it might become weekly from now on. I've no intentions of abandoning this story, so don't worry! 
> 
> Also, uh, I have other stories I'm working on - they are just bare skeletons so it'll be a while before you'll see them up here but just know that if I'm not working on this I'm writing something else (like that Asano-Karma swap lol).

They – Asano, Karma, Yukimura and Sugino – met Okuda and Hayami at the school gates, where they had been waiting for Karma to finish his meeting with Akashi.

“Karma-sama? Who are they?” Okuda questioned curiously, her plaits swaying as she and Hayami made their way towards the approaching group.

“… I’ll explain later. First, we’ll have to get somewhere private where we can talk.”

Asano looked at Karma, “Preferably somewhere that’s not bugged. Which takes both of us out of the list.”

“My sister’s not in for the week, we could go to my place.” Akari perked up at Asano’s comment, and Karma nodded in agreement.

“I guess it should be fine, if you’re okay with it?” He looked sideways at the strawberry blond, who sighed and nodded. 

“Lead the way, Yukimura-san.” Akari smiled, her long brown hair swaying as she turned and walked down the walkway, Sugino shrugging and following. Okuda and Hayami exchanged worried looks, looking at Karma, who nodded.

They followed Akari to a fancy-looking apartment building, situated at the edge of Shibuya. The brunette nodded a greeting to the security and unlocked the gate with a cardkey. Karma whistled.

“I didn’t know normal students could afford places like this.” Akari beamed at them as the metal gate unlocked. Sugino chuckled, looking at the brunette, who gave him a cheeky expression.

“Actually… I make enough on my job to afford this place, and more.” Four pairs of eyes blinked.

“Job?” They chorused in unison. The hazel-eyed girl nodded. 

“Mmhm! I work as an actress, have you heard of the name Kayano Kaede?” Karma and Asano jumped in surprise as Okuda and Hayami let out identical squeals of excitement, facing each other and linking their hands. 

“Wait, as in the famous teen actress who played Minamoto Kira in the recent drama, _Anata ni Koi wo shimasu_?” The brunette laughed in embarrassment, Sugino bellowed at the girls’ reactions. 

Karma frowned in confusion, and Asano raised an eyebrow, shaking his head when Karma looked at him in question.

“I loved your portrayal of Kira-chan! I mean, she’s so sweet and everything –” They looked at the girls – who had caught up to Akari and was now chatting with her animatedly – in bewilderment. The blue-haired male continued to laugh at their expressions.

“Yeah, you’ll get used to that.”

 

* * *

 

“So you mean, Nagisa’s been branded as a traitor of Teikou now?” Asano briefly wondered just how one Yukimura Akari could manage to surprise him so many times in a day, as he and Karma slid closer to one another in face of the rage and disbelief of the other.

The brunette looked like she was literally on fire – complete with sharp teeth and flying hair and all. He shuddered internally, and shot a pitying look at Karma, who had cringed beside him. 

Sugino laughed, feeling a sweatdrop forming. He knew, from experience, that Akari could be quite… imposing, at times.

Asano cleared his throat, “Yes, and General Kuroko has ordered him to be exterminated on sight, if he can’t be subdued and taken in.” Karma tensed at the reminder, and the rest shared similar looks of horror. 

“But Nagisa is his son!”

“Doesn’t he care at all?” 

“Does he even have a heart?”

“No, and no.” Karma drawled, folding his hands behind his back. “He doesn’t give a shit about either of his sons, from what I can tell.” 

“Things work… differently, in our families.” The strawberry blond commented lightly, thinking of his own father.

Asano Gakuhou was someone with a large ego and an even larger ambition. Gakushuu was brought up with his education of absolute control over everything, as well as the need to always stand at the top.

His arranged marriage with Nagisa was also nothing more than a means to an end, as far as his dad was concerned, and Gakushuu’s nothing more than a tool for the Asano family to slowly work its way up the hierarchy.

Gakushuu thinks his father possesses way too much ambition for his person – Akashi Seijuurou was exceptionally talented, even for Gakushuu, and it’s unlikely that he’ll see the reign of the Asano family in his lifetime. 

How his mother manages to stand his father, remains a mystery to him.

He saw Yukimura-san and Sugino-kun exchanging looks, and the brunette flushed in apology.

“Sorry, if I’ve offended you two…” Her eyes flittered between Gakushuu and Akabane, who shrugged the comment off.

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.” The lavender eyed male cleared his throat. 

“Yeah, same here. No offence taken at all.”

Akari took a deep breath, relieved that she hadn’t managed to anger either of her new companions, before looking up at Sugino, who was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“So what do we do now?”

Sugino was rather unsettled by the way Asano and Karma straightened up immediately at the question, determined glints in their eyes.

“We’re going to find out what exactly happened to Nagisa-kun.” 

“That’ll involve tracking him down, Karma-sama, we can’t exactly do that at the moment with the Kuroko family monitoring our movements.” Karma smirked, a sly spark in his eyes. 

“Ah, but since General-sama has handed down the order for Nagisa to be treated as a traitor, he’s no longer considered a member of the Kuroko household. Which means they have no business with me looking for Nagisa now.”

“Besides,” Asano continued, “even if they do, I can cover up for Akabane. I could always claim that he’s doing it on my behalf. I doubt anyone’s going to question us at this point in time, when their attention’s all focused on searching for Nagisa and dealing with the Brotherhood.”

Hayami and Okuda frowned at the implications of Asano’s cover-up story, but they backed down at Karma’s look, reluctantly accepting the fact that their master would have to work under Asano Gakushuu in order for them to achieve their goals.

“Your aides are really dedicated.”

“Why thank you, Asano. Jealous?”

“I really wonder how anyone can stand you.” 

“Guys… This really isn’t the time.” The two glaring males broke apart and Asano scowled, before standing up.

“Well, now that that’s been decided, we’ll start searching for where Nagisa-kun could’ve gone to.” 

“And where, genius, do you suggest we start?” The strawberry blond smirked at the redhead.

“With Kuroko Tetsuya.”

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe I agreed to this insane plan.”

“Asano-san, this really isn’t the best place for us to be…”

“I’ll go in and distract the servants by getting their attention, and you guys can sneak in. I believe Akabane knows the way around the mansion?” 

“Yes,” A hiss, “But that was at least six years ago –”

“I’ll meet you in Kuroko Tetsuya’s room. It’s in the hallway diagonal from Nagisa’s, you remember where it is?” 

“Yes I do, but –”

“And we can’t just call Kuroko-san out like normal people because...?”

“Akashi said here, and inside, and I can’t argue with him.” 

Karma personally thought the asshole was just trying to screw with them by making their lives especially difficult.

“You know, it’d be a lot easier if I snuck in on my own instead of having them,” he nodded at his aides, Yukimura and Sugino, “follow me. A five-person party is hardly stealthy for sneaking in.”

“Karma-sama’s right, but we can't leave you!” The redhead felt a headache coming on, and Asano sighed. 

“Yukimura-san, Sugino-kun, come with me.” He looked at Okuda and Hayami, “Well, one of you is going to have to follow me. Akabane’s right, five is too big of a group to be infiltrating the mansion.” The two girls looked at each other and nodded. 

“I’ll go with Karma-sama.” Hayami spoked up, and Akari smiled at Okuda, taking her hand.

The Asano heir nodded. 

“We’ll go in first, I’ll send you a text when we’re clear.” Karma sighed as he watched the group approach the familiar gates, and lifted his head to examine the towering mansion. Its white walls were tended to frequently with utmost care, since the place was extremely old and there wasn’t a single patch of grey on the paint.

He wondered if the garden in the backyard was still the same.

It has been years – way too long – since he’d entered the Kuroko estate, he reflected with a hint of melancholy in his half-lidded eyes. He remembered the days when he’d used to sneak into the mansion, climbing the aged vines on the wall in order to reach Nagisa’s room on the third floor.

Hayami looked on with a hint of worry in her green eyes.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn't?”

“Nagisa, I mean. Betraying the family, that I can understand, but he’d never sell out his brother’s hard work to the Brotherhood. Not when he knows what they are capable of.” The girl stayed silent, not knowing what to say – words were never her strong suit; neither her nor Manami’s, which was the reason why they were perfect to serve as Karma-sama’s aides. Their master disliked annoying people, and both of them knew enough to keep their respectful distance with him at all times.

The only person who was ever really close to him was Kuroko Nagisa.

And now, he’s disappeared.

She watched, as the redhead continued to stare at the mansion, deep in thought. The silence that encased them was oddly comfortable.

Then, Karma’s phone beeped.

“It’s Asano.” The Akabane heir looked up at her, “Let's go.” She nodded. 

Karma broke out in a run, sending out a few surveillance charms to determine the positions of the guards, before nodding at Hayami.

“Follow my movements exactly.”

He led her up and across the tall walls that surrounded the large estate, before breaking into a brisk but silence run across the empty courtyard, confident that the girl was right behind him.

While Hayami was a skilled sniper, her movements weren’t anything to be scoffed at, either.

With Nagisa’s treason, his room must be filled with Army investigators, which also meant that they will have to go one round, about the mansion, to reach Kuroko Tetsuya’s room, instead of cutting through using the corridor Karma was familiar with, the one Nagisa’s room was in. 

He knew Akashi Seijuurou was doing this just to test him, that bastard.

Silently cursing the Council President and all his ancestors to hell – if they weren’t already there – he pressed himself against the cold concrete wall of the mansion, and gestured for Hayami to follow.

It wasn’t a difficult breaking and entry by any definition, but it did bring back a lot of memories.

Memories that he wasn’t sure he wanted to recall.

 

* * *

 

“Asano-dono,” The butler gave a deep bow as the door opened and Gakushuu entered with the other three in tow, “Akashi-dono and Tetsuya-obocchama have been waiting for you and your guests.”

 _He’d better_ , since he was the person who’d called all of them here when Gakushuu had messaged him demanding to meet Kuroko Tetsuya. This was probably just a trial for Akabane, he was sure of that – as sure as he was of his own name, actually.

“Good evening, Yoshino-san, is Akashi-senpai ready to meet us?” He responded with a smile of his own – the one that Nagisa hated, the one that looked fake.

_Don’t think about Nagisa-kun now, Gakushuu._

“Yes, I will send one of the maids to get him for you. Meanwhile, please do take a rest in the seating room. We’ve set up some tea and light snacks for you.” Nodding at Yoshino, Gakushuu and the others – whom he could see were quite overwhelmed by the extravagant décor of the main entrance – followed the butler into one of the many seating rooms in the mansion.

He recognized the one they were led into – it was the place where he’d first met Nagisa.

Sugino and Yukimura sighed in relief as the butler nodded and took his leave, while Okuda looked down at the table with a slight frown of worry.

“Woah… That was extremely... uptight. Are things always like this?” The brunette actress questioned, and Gakushuu nodded in reply. This was the kind of environment he was brought up in, and he was used to it. He could see why the two weren’t, however.

“No wonder Nagisa hates this place, it’s so.. stifling.” Sugino commented, leaning back into the couch and swiping a biscuit for himself – they’d skipped dinner, it was natural for high school students to be hungry, but Gakushuu wasn’t in the mood to eat.

“Yeah, Nagisa mentioned once that he wouldn’t want to invite anyone to his place. Guess this is the reason why…” Yukimura’s hazel eyes were scanning the table, before lighting up as she seemed to have spotted the item she was looking for. “Ah! They do have good puddings though.”

Sugino sweatdropped, before looking over at Okuda.

“Okuda-san? Are you all right?” Akabane’s aide looked up in surprise at being addressed, before looking down, face pinched.

“Yes – yes, I’m fine. I worry for Karma-sama, however…”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Yukimura placed a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “If half of what Nagisa’s told me is true, he’ll be able to handle himself, no problems there.” Gakushuu raised an eyebrow at that, and it did not go unescaped by the teen actress. 

“Why, Asano-kun? Jealous?” He snorted, and the brunette let out a soft giggle.

There was no need to be jealous of Akabane. His arrangement with Nagisa was for convenience, and nothing more.

Also, it wouldn’t matter if he felt jealous of the redhead, since Nagisa has made it clear since day one that his heart would always belong to the other.

Before he could reply, however, a knock at the door drew their attention. Yoshino walked in and bowed politely.

“Asano-dono, Akashi-dono and obocchama are ready to see you now.”

Sighing and pushing all thoughts of Nagisa way, he stood up and smoothed out his blazer.

“Let's go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Akari and Sugino finally meet Karma and Asano! My favourite queen Rio is coming soon HAHAHAHA (or.. maybe not hmmm but she'll make it, eventually.) 
> 
> There's a reason why I made them go to the Kuroko mansion - you'll see it after Karma and Asano are done shaking down (or attempting to shake down) Akashi and Kuroko. 
> 
> And yes, Akashi did tell them to go to the mansion just to test Karma's skills - they were right. The authoress made them do it for a different reason, however, roflols. 
> 
> Karma and Gakushuu are both leaders~~~ And my heart goes out to Gakushuu, in terms of all the shitty fathers in this story, Gakuhou takes the cake, actually, despite how much Tetsuya and Nagisa hate their father. In my opinion, at least. O_O (Also he's the poor guy with the one-sided feelings... Pity him, will you. I'm going easy on him compared to Karma, though. Lol) 
> 
> Akari's drama name was entirely made-up. I doubt you'll actually get a real drama if you googled that... It sounds like a typical shoujo drama name though hmmm. I'm happy that I managed to fit the Kayano-actress plotpoint in, haha.
> 
> So... Do y'all want smut or not? If you say no here, it'll apply to the entire story, to both pairings - meaning it'll keep the rating away from Explicit.


	8. aster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _aster - star (in latin); also refers to the flower_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half of this chapter's plot development, and the other half is just fluff + more gakunagi/karmagisa in flashbacks.
> 
> Uni kicked my ass. I'm so sorry. The next chapter's like half-written, haha! I'll try to squeeze myself out. Also it's half-written because I still have no idea whether to smut or not. If no one wants to see it I'll just go ahead and skip it ;w; oops. I can only write smut when I'm in the mood so.. 
> 
> (Plus, Mystic Messenger's taking over other time I have... I'm sorry I'm such a trash. Ahahaha) 
> 
> And yes I have more fic ideas so please look forward :D

“You got here faster than expected.” Akashi remarked, eyeing Karma with interest as he entered the room. The other redhead glared at him.

“I remembered the layout of this place, don’t pretend you didn’t make us come here just to test me out.” His senior laughed, and the Akabane heir intensified his scowl. 

“Akabane, sit down.” Asano rubbed at his temples, feeling an onslaught of fatigue – it’s been a long day, and the revelations hadn’t made it any easier. He dreaded having to deal with his father when he got home.

“I don’t take orders from you, Asano.”

“That was a polite request,” He hissed back, at the end of his wits.

“Gakushuu-kun’s right, Akabane-kun, please have a seat.” Karma jolted in surprise when he heard that voice, before realizing that Kuroko Tetsuya was standing right behind Akashi Seijuurou, his hands holding onto a folder.

The golden-eyed first year raised an eyebrow, he hadn’t seen the other at all when he’d entered. Guess the rumours about the Kuroko heir was true after all. _No wonder they all call him the Phantom…_

He then took his seat, noting that the room was large enough to fit enough chairs for all of them. It looked like a reading room of some kind, with bookshelves lining the walls, and diagrams, spells pasted onto the areas where the bookshelves don’t cover.

“Now, you’re here to talk about Nagisa?” The blue-eyed boy questioned, tilting his head to the side curiously – and Karma couldn’t help but to think about Nagisa. He cleared his throat to rid himself of the thought, he had to concentrate.

“Yes, we find it difficult to believe that Nagisa would just…” 

“Betray the Kuroko family to the Brotherhood?” Kuroko continued with a slight smile on his lips, and it irked Karma for he didn’t understand why the other could still be smiling at this time. It was a smile that spoke of many unknowns that he was privy to but Karma didn’t know.

He didn’t like not knowing anything about Nagisa.

“He would. Nagisa does have a large vendetta against father, since he separated the both of you.” Karma bit his lips, not knowing what to say to that.

“Nagisa would do anything for you, really, Akabane-kun. Consider yourself really lucky.” He frowned and closed his eyes, trying to sort out the whirlwind of emotions he felt at that. None of them knew what Nagisa’s goal was by doing all of this, and Kuroko thinks that it’s all for Karma?

“What’s Nagisa-kun’s goal? It makes no sense for him to go directly against the family when he’s at a disadvantage, even if it is for Akabane.” Thank whatever higher powers above for Asano, for Karma didn’t think he could speak at that moment. Kuroko turned his attention towards the strawberry blond. 

“To destroy the Kuroko family, of course. There wouldn’t be any reason to side with the Brotherhood otherwise. If the family is destroyed, he could be with Akabane-kun without any of the stigmas and restrictions, it’s his dream come true.”

“But how?” Yukimura cut in, voice sharp. The blue-haired scion looked amused.

“You should’ve heard from Sei-kun that Nagisa stole some of our research and fed them to the Brotherhood. Amongst those is the research for the Kiju, demon weapons, we’ve been developing for use against other species… Like the vampires.” Karma’s eyes snapped open at that. What?

“I thought they were just legends…” Kuroko laughed, a soft and light sound, but it set Karma's nerves on edge.

“Sure, they used to be, since they are good at staying underground. But they have been more active in their movements since the Teikou Imperial Army expanded into looking at the supernatural. Our spells and charms are what lured them out. If magic and demons exist, why shouldn’t they?”

“Does that mean that the Seraph gene is real as well?”

“I would assume so, yes." 

The whole group took a collective breath at that. The Seraph race was a legend – even moreso than the vampires’ existence – of destroyers of the human race. They were known to be powerful and destructive, and existed primarily for human extinction.

It’s all very Old Testament – bloody, violent and genocide-like.

“The demons are what oppose the Seraphs, from what we can tell so far. Hence there is a need to harvest them for our use.” Akashi explained. 

“We’ve been ahead of the Brotherhood for quite some time, but Nagisa’s betrayal has put us back on equal grounds… Perhaps even greater, since the Thousand Nights – Hyakuyas – are especially gifted with everything supernatural.” Kuroko’s stoic face took on a slightly worried frown.

“The Brotherhood could destroy Teikou with this.” Sugino whispered in horror, and their senior nodded. 

“Which is why Nagisa is wanted for first-degree treason now, and we’re ramping up efforts to complete the Kiju weapons before the Brotherhood does.”

“But you didn’t actually see Nagisa giving the information to that Shiro guy, right? So why –”

“Yukimura-san,” Kuroko cut her off, “There’s no arguing with the orders father gives out. All I can do now is to finish the project before the Brotherhood does. If you’ve come here to ask for help in proving Nagisa’s innocent, we can’t help you with that.”

Well that’s a bummer, but at least they know what Nagisa took from the family, as well as what they’re up against. Karma sighed mentally, he was exhausted.

It’d be good if this past whole day had just been a nightmare.

Kuroko stared at the younger redhead, and smiled.

“Akabane-kun, since you’re here, why not take a look at Nagisa’s room?” The group looked up in surprise at the suggestion, and Karma’s eyes narrowed.

“Don’t look at me like that, the investigators combed through Nagisa’s things a long time ago. A person of his caliber wouldn’t have left any damning evidence or clues behind, anyway. So they’ve cleared out. It’s empty now, and no one’s going to go into it. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

Karma saw Asano looking at him and met his eyes, before turning towards Kuroko and nodding. The phantom’s smile grew wider and he stood up, walking towards the door and placing one hand on the knob. He turned back and looked at Karma, who frowned before taking steps towards the blue-haired male.

“You can’t be seen here, but I’ll settle that.” Kuroko commented, swiping two fingers across Karma’s forehead, and he shuddered as he felt a wave of energy run over him.

“It’s a deflection charm, so that no one will notice you when you pass them.” Nagisa’s brother explained, before opening the door.

“You can exit via Nagisa’s room – I trust that you still know the way?”

 

* * *

 

Nagisa’s room hasn’t changed a bit. Golden eyes wandered around the small space, taking in the book shelves, work desk and queen-sized bed. Everything was neatly arranged, which was weird, considering investigators had just searched the place – Karma presumed that they’d turned the place upside down in the process, but looking at the room, he had his doubts.

“The maids probably rearranged the place,” Asano commented from beside him, purple eyes scanning the table, frowning deep in thought. A part of Karma’s brain silently agreed with him, while majority of it was occupied with remembering all that had happened in this room.

 _“Psst, Nagisa!”_

_Said boy looked up at the knock on his window, and his blue eyes widened in surprise when he saw Karma sitting on his window sill._

_On the third floor._

_Dropping the book he’d been reading onto the bed, he rushed towards the window, and pushed it open – taking care not to disturb Karma’s already tenuous balance – before pulling the red-haired boy in._

_The Akabane heir laughed in glee as he was pulled into the room unceremoniously, landing flat on his rear. Looking up and seeing Nagisa’s expression of frustration and worry, he bellowed._

_“Karma! This isn’t funny!” Nagisa hissed, placing sound-dampening charms all around the room so that no one would check on the growing ruckus in his room._

_“B – but your f – face! It’s too precious, Nagi!” The blue-eyed boy felt his face heat up, and harrumphed, turning away from Karma and folding his hands._

_“Hey~ Are you going to ignore me, when I came all the way to see you?” Karma fussed about when Nagisa made his way to his bed and picked up his book again, intending on doing exactly that._

_Sulking, he looked up at the redhead sitting in front of him._

_“Don’t do that again.”_

_“Do what?”_

_“You know what, climb up all the way here! It’s dangerous, and how did you get past the guards anyway? If our parents find out –”_

_“I have my parents covered, don’t worry. It’s not like they’re ever around anyway. And how else am I supposed to meet you then?”_

_Nagisa frowned._

_“I… guess… But climbing here is still dangerous!” Karma scoffed._

_“It’s nothing – I’m training with Koro-san right now,” He stifled his chuckles at the way Nagisa’s eyes lit up at the mention of his ex-teacher, “So I can handle this with no problem.”_

_“How is he? Karasuma and Irina-san too! Are they doing well? It’s been so long since I saw them –”_

_“Na~gi~sa~ I came here to see you and you’re asking about others? I’m hurt.” The redhead gave the other a long face, and Nagisa giggled in reply, placing the book back onto his bed and latching onto Karma._

_Snuggling into the other’s shoulder, the blue-haired boy sighed, content._

_“I’m glad you’re here.”_

Click, click, click.

The sound broke Karma out of his reminiscing, and he frowned at Asano, who was… attempting to pull Nagisa’s desk drawers out of their compartment?

“What are you doing?!” He hissed.

“Nagisa left runes around in here, for us, in case you haven’t noticed,” The other replied drily, not looking up from his dismantling of his fiancé’s study table, “I’m trying to get to whatever it is he’d left behind.” Karma frowned in thought.

“Wait, how did you know it’s for us? And how did the investigators not find out?” Asano sighed, finally turning to look up at Karma, shooting him a deadpan look that screamed “are you stupid” before directing his line of vision to the edge of the desk top he was leaning against.

The redhead looked down, squinting hard at the desk, before actually seeing what Asano saw.

Oh, _oh._

Glowing faintly at the edge of the table, was a small direction rune. Spellcasters would use this to leave behind messages for those who knew how to read them.

“I don’t get it, how did the investigators not see it then?” The strawberry blond shrugged, grunting when he pulled the final drawer out of the cabinet, peeking into the darkness – they couldn’t afford to turn the lights on, incase they drew any unnecessary attention.

“He’d probably set it to react to us – although if I had to make a guess I’d say Nagisa had set it to react to _you_.” He pulling his head out of the tiny space in the cabinet, looking up at Karma, annoyed.

“Now are you going to help or not? I need some light here.” Karma pulled out his phone and turned the flashlight on, directing it towards the space in the cabinet as Asano reached in again.

“It should be somewhere here – ah,” Pulling out a small notebook, Asano scanned the cover page and sighed, offering it up to Karma.

“It’s for you.”

The redhead blinked, taken aback by Asano’s curtness, before accepting the notebook gingerly and settling himself onto Nagisa’s work chair.

Gakushuu rolled his eyes at the other’s expression as he looked at the notebook, before working to placing all the drawers back into their original positions. He supposed he really shouldn’t be feeling this burning annoyance in him at the fact that Nagisa had left something behind for the other – he didn’t even bother questioning why the blue-haired boy had so much faith in that the Akabane would break into his mansion after his disappearance, Nagisa's faith in the Akabane was something he’d learned that was better of unquestioned – and what was annoying him even more was that he was feeling that way.

Even after all these years, Akabane would be first in Nagisa’s heart. Figures.

He sighed when he was finished with his chores, only to look up and find Akabane still staring blankly at the notebook. Frowning, he stood up, brushing dust off his clothes and tapping the table.

The other looked up at him in confusion.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” His question cleared up some of the misty quality in the other’s eyes, and Karma reached out to flip the book open with hesitant fingers. 

The Asano heir raised an eyebrow at the contents of the book as dried purple asters came into his vision.

_“Gakushuu-kun, what’s your favourite flower?”_

_It was another one of their monthly “bonding” sessions, made mandatory by both their parents – fathers, more like, for Gakushuu knew Nagisa’s mother died at birth and his parents were as estranged and distanced as they could get – to be carried out over lunch at the Kuroko mansion._

_He was taken aback at the random question, before looking up from his tea into curious blue eyes._

_“I’ve… never given it much thought.” It was the truth, since his father’s education never covered such things – he’d long ago labeled it as sentimental and hence redundant. The shorter boy looked visibly disappointed by his reply, but not surprised – Nagisa knew how his family was like, after all._

_“I personally like the_ shion _very much,” Gakushuu raised a questioning brow, and Nagisa smiled at him, “You know, the small purple flowers growing in the garden right now?”_

_Ah, he did recall seeing such flowers on his way in…_

_“Why?” He wasn’t extremely curious, but it was just polite to ask… Small talk, get to know your future partner… right. They both had roles to play._

_“Its hanakotoba is_ remembrance _, Gakushuu-kun. I hope you’ll remember that, even if you do know nothing else about it.”_

Funny how Akabane had thought that Nagisa had forgotten him, because Gakushuu was willing to bet that there wasn’t a single moment that he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no way Nagisa would leave anything incriminating behind, lol. But he'd left the dried asters behind for Karma because he knew there was a possibility that he would never meet the other again with his sanity in tact - he wasn't about to let his demonic side ruin the sentimentality of his gift. 
> 
> Karma, pay attention to your surroundings, tsk. And I'm so sorry, Asano-kun \;w;/


	9. silentium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _silentium - silence, quiet, quietness, stillness, obscurity, repose_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWENTY THOUSAND! YESSSS. (...) and a thousand hits! I love you guys <3 So much!
> 
> There's a lot of dialogue in this chapter, and it gives you insight to two of the main characters' relationships at home. 
> 
> I give you, two Fathers of the Year (the third is Akashi's, lol), pfffft. 
> 
> This took some time because I was wondering if I should write smut, but I'm not good at it so.. um... yeah. And also I'm chronically sleep-deprived thanks to Mystic Messenger.
> 
> (Also, shameless advert here. If any of you read Daiya no Ace and ship the Eijun harem - or just misawa, really - I wrote a MM!AU for Daiya. It'd be great if y'all could check it out~)

The purple petals were brittle and rough to the touch, he lowered his eyelids as his fingertips danced on the paper of the notebook Nagisa left behind.

If Asano found his sudden silence strange, he didn’t comment on it, for that Karma was grateful. The purple-eyed heir had also chosen not to say anything, but he didn’t ponder over the reason why. 

_Dried shion, huh?_

Remembrance, Nagisa had told him that once – for even when they were younger, the fear of being separated and being forgotten by each other was strong in their minds – so that neither of them would be able to forget each other.

And Nagisa made sure that everytime Karma saw the purple aster, he’ll remember him. Remember them.

 _What are you trying to tell me, Nagisa?_ The red-haired scion thought bitterly, the blue-haired male was gone simply without a trace and seemingly without any regrets, and he wants Karma to remember him?

A bitter scoff tore from his mouth, and he jerked when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, looking up into the frustrated eyes of Asano.

“No time to be floundering around in your own world, Akabane. We’ll have to get out of here soon.” He gestured towards the door, “I’ll go get Hayami-san, you stay here.” He merely nodded blankly in reply, missing the Asano scion’s raised eyebrow at his lax reply.

He barely registered the sound of the door closing.

Biting his lips, he flipped the page over, sighing when he came up with subsequent blank pages – _what are you up to, Nagisa?_ Tracing the edges of the notebook, he sighed.

Somehow, he knew he wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight.

 

* * *

 

“General Kuroko, the investigation squad has finished combing your so – excuse me, Kuroko Nagisa’s room.”

“Mm, and?”

“We didn’t find anything of significance at all.” The reply was soft, and Tetsuya resisted the urge to chuckle – of course they wouldn’t have found anything. Nagisa was careful, and both he and Seijuurou had made sure that the younger boy hadn’t left anything behind.

_Oh, father, we’re so ahead of you in this game, you don’t even know you’re playing… yet._

“Father, if I may.” He spoke up, drawing the room’s attention to him. Some of the younger cadats jumped at his voice, while the more experienced officers had more mellowed reactions, he could still tell that they were surprised.

Eliciting such reactions out of others never failed to amuse him.

“Go ahead, Tetsuya." 

“Nagisa wouldn’t make such an amateur mistake of leaving behind anything damning to his person, if he really had been planning this for a long time, I doubt we’ll find anything.” He brushed off the glares that the investigators shot at him, it was the truth, after all. 

His father frowned, deep in thought – _keep on thinking, father, it’s fun to watch you flounder like this; makes my victory all that more sweet_ – before sighing.

“Dismissed, all of you. Tetsuya, I’ll have to speak to you, alone.” The blue-haired phantom stayed by his post and waited for the investigation task force to leave the room entirely, the door shutting behind them with a soft ‘click’.

“Yes, father?”

“Did you see any signs of Nagisa’s betrayal?” Ah, that won’t do, direct questioning is way too rough. _This is why, dear father, you will fall._

“No, father. Nagisa and I… We haven’t talked much since I took over the Kiju project.” He projected an expression between regret and worry on his face, eyelids half closed and lips pressed tightly into a line.

“I see…” The older male turned his chair to face the window, and stood up, hands placed behind his back, and he knew he was about to be dismissed.

“We’re done here, Tetsuya. Inform me when you come across anything, or if your brother contacts you.”

“Yes, father.”

His departure from his father’s office was as silent as his entrance, and it was only when he was in the hallway where his room was located, did he allow the tiniest hint of a smile to don his face.

Seijuurou was in his room when he returned, looking at his laptop with a frown of concentration. The heterochromatic eyed male looked up when he entered, closing the door quietly with a soft grin. His fiancé smirked.

“You’re back, how’s General Kuroko?” Tetsuya sighed, showing his previously-suppressed delight, walking behind Seijuurou to wrap his arms around the other’s shoulder, burying his head and snuggling into his nape, giggling against the warm flesh.

“He bought my story – asked if I knew Nagisa was going to do this, as expected.” The blue-haired male replied in a whisper – they’d checked for bugs, but this was still his father’s mansion, one could never be too careful.

Seijuurou chuckled in reply, reaching up to play with his hair. He shivered at the feeling.

“Gakushuu and Karma bought the story pretty readily too,” The Akashi scion commented offhandedly, and Tetsuya hummed in reply, pulling his head away to rest his chin on Seijuurou’s red tresses.

“Quite a disappointment, isn’t it? But either way, it’s working in our favour.”

“Indeed, however, I had expected the both of them to be sharper than this. Maybe they just have too little trust in your brother.”

“Or they’re just confused, you really can’t blame them, Sei-kun. Speaking of, how did your call with your father go?”

“Pretty similar to yours, but he does want some answers soon – tell Nagisa to show his face when he’s ready.”

“He will, but definitely not to us.” Tetsuya whispered, trailing his fingertips across Seijuurou’s chest.

“I’ll keep an eye on Karma then,” A single red eye peeked up from beneath blood-red bangs, and Seijuurou smirked, holding onto his wandering hand.

“Oh, isn’t this rare? What’s up with you lately, Tetsuya?” Said male offered him a smile.

“I’m just really, really happy, Sei-kun.” The red-haired heir chuckled in understanding, spinning his – Tetsuya’s, technically – chair around, standing up and snaking his unoccupied arm around the shorter’s waist, pulling the blue-haired male down onto his lap.

Tetsuya felt his cheeks heat up when his betrothed leaned up with a mischievious spark in his oddly coloured eyes – something which made his elegant features much more handsome that they already were – he felt his eyelids lower as the other approached, pressing his lips to the blue-haired male’s.

He gave a soft whimper the moment their lips made contact, mewling when he felt Seijuurou’s other hand roaming his lower back, sneaking into his shirt and drawing circles with his thumb on the skin around his tailbone, where he was especially sensitive.

His attempt to pull away from the ticklish touch was prevented as the redhead stopped his ministrations to place his palm on the small of his back in warning, his other hand – it was still entwined with his – squeezing his hand in warning.

“Sei-kun,” Breathing out a soft sigh of relief when they broke apart, a thick, lustrous string of saliva connecting the tip of their tongues, he opened his eyes to meet clouded heterochromatic ones.

“Hmm?” Seijuurou pressed their foreheads together, and Tetsuya felt a warmth kindling within him. There was that urgent, primal lust, but there was also something else, something tender and genial that replaced the sharp coldness resulting from his meeting with his father.

Seijuurou really did make everything better. He was willing to give Tetsuya everything.

Hence, Tetsuya was willing to give him the world.

“Stay?” He looked up shyly, and watched as the stormy red and gold irises darken further as Seijuurou chuckled.

“I plan to, Tetsuya.”

 

* * *

 

“I’m home,” Gakushuu called out, nodding at the servants who came out to greet him as he entered the mansion foyer. Sakakibara - Ren’s father and the head butler for the household - approached him and nodded in greeting.

“Welcome back, Gakushuu-bocchama,” He hesitated, and the heir mentally groaned at what was coming, “Master Gakuhou wishes to see you.” The teen snorted.

“Doesn’t he always… Is he in his study? I’ll be there.” He sighed, loosening his tie and walking up the main stairs of the mansion, the butler following him, “Where’s mother?”

“Rika-sama is currently having dinner with an associate,” The middle aged male replied, and he nodded - well, guess that’s codeword for getting out of the house and away from his father, Gakushuu couldn’t really blame her, what with his father being all distant and self-centered.

He wondered if their marriage was arranged, as well, but his mother was never around, and it wasn’t like he was going to ask his father.

“I see. Thanks. I’ll head up alone.” He offered a slim smile to the older male, who bowed and descended back down the stairs.

 _Well, time to deal with another problem,_ mentally sighing - it had been an exhausting day, honestly, and he didn’t want to deal with this now; however his father’s wishes could not be ignored - all he wanted right now was a bath, and sleep. 

It’s not like the teachers are going to care about homework, what with the recent attack. Smiling bitterly to himself at the reminder - Shiro had insulted him, Nagisa-kun was gone without a trace, and Akashi and Kuroko knew something; but what? - he approached the wide doors of his father’s study and knocked promptly.

“Come in,” Gakuhou looked up from his desk to his son, raising an eyebrow at his very visible fatigue.

“You should be acting proper and alert at all times, even if you aren’t.” Gakushuu groaned inwardly, and scowled at his father.

“I’ve had a long day, can you make this quick.” He wasn’t going to even ask - it was a demand, one that his father better follow, or _else_ -

“Or else what, Gakushuu? I heard about the attack at the school, as well as Kuroko-kun’s… defection.” Light purple eyes narrowed at the older male.

“Yes, what about it?” He replied flippantly - he wasn’t about to let his father see any weakness regarding Nagisa’s betrayal. Gakuhou sighed, as if his son was someone to be pitied - Gakushuu knew he was anything but, and braced himself for the next comment.

“In light of recent events, it’s obvious that your engagement with Kuroko-kun will be annulled. I’ll start to set you up with propective candidates again -“

“With all due respect, _sir_ ,” The younger bit out, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists, “I don’t think that should be our priority at the moment, “General Kuroko has handed out orders to search for Nagisa-kun, as well as eliminate the immediate threat of the Brotherhood. We - _I_ \- don’t have the time for such matters.”

The brunet pulled away from his desk and leaned back into his chair, hands placed on top of each other, dark purple eyes scrutinizing his son carefully - Gakushuu was used to this, so he merely offered a raised eyebrow. Then, his father chuckled.

“Could you be attached to the boy?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“He was our link to the ruling Kuroko family, and with his desertion, your future marriage is useless, not to mention impossible.”

“Well, it’s not like there are other candidates for me at the moment, is there?” He was _not_ marrying Akashi - hell no, besides the General, not to mention Kuroko Tetsuya, wouldn’t allow it - and obviously the older Kuroko was out of the question too.

Heirs from other families were just not of equal prospect.

“Besides, if we can capture Nagisa-kun alive, Akashi-senpai has mentioned that it is possible for him to get a bargain plea, and he’ll still be part of the family, disgraced or not.” That was a lie, but his father didn’t need to know that. Gakushuu didn’t want to go through that whole process again - once was enough - and it wasn’t like Nagisa was dead.

There’s no way Akabane could take him away from Gakushuu either, at least legally.

As long as Nagisa’s alive, their marriage contract stands.

Gakuhou raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

“Seems like you are more attached to the boy than I thought.”

“That’s not it -” Shit, he was tired but there was no way in hell he was going to flounder in front of his father, god knows that man leeched on weakness like bees to nectar, “I’d like to capture Nagisa-kun myself. It would up our standing in the General’s eyes.” He shrugged for good measure - whether his father bought his act, is a different matter entirely - “So I really don’t have the time for frivolities. I believe you don’t too, _father_.”

His cold tone not affecting Gakuhou in anyway - he hadn’t expect it to, either - the man merely chuckled again, and nodded.

“I’ll let this be… for now.” He sighed mentally in relief, that’s one bullet dodged.

“Now, how are things going with Akabane-kun?”

_Damn it, is he not done yet?!_

“I’m curious, Gakushuu, humour me.” Gakuhou commented with a drawl, and the younger Asano knew his annoyance must’ve showed on his face. 

“Akabane is… all right, aside from hailing from an inferior bloodline.” His father raised an eyebrow, Gakushuu knew he was being vague, which really wasn’t like him.

“It’s surprising that you don’t know much about him yet.”

“Today’s examination was interrupted by the individual named Shiro, and I was too busy protecting the students to take note if he’d made any moves.” The Asano head hummed in nonchalant reply, and the room fell into a tense silence for a while.

“All right, you’re dismissed, Gakushuu.” Finally.

He nodded, offering his greetings for the night before turning around and walking towards the door, eager to get the hell out of this office.

“Gakushuu-kun?” What now? He was halfway out the door, one hand placed on the door’s knob, when his father called out to him again.

“I hope you keep an eye on Akabane-kun as you search for Kuroko-kun, will you? He is a formidable opponent, from what I’ve heard.” Shit, he knows. Gakushuu’s face was pinched, and he had to force out his reply.

“Yes, father.”

Neither of them noticed the eyes peering into the room, from the large windows of Gakuhou’s study. 

A good distance away, a short figure smiled, his sky-blue hair illuminated by the silver moonlight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa returns next chapter (just something for y'all to look forward to)~
> 
> I think I did the Gakushuu-Gakuhou scene pretty well, especially with Gakushuu's annoyance because he's channeling it from yours truly who has slept way too little for the past few days.
> 
> And his mother was named after Rika from MM, yes. My sleep-deprived decided to pull the first female name out. So...
> 
> Next update might take a while - my classes are killing me and it's only week one ;w; (one down, eleven to go, I guess....).... why did I decide it was a good idea to study Psychology and Criminal Law at the same time. fml.


	10. aperito

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _aperito - opening; revelation_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact (at least for me lol) - apocalypse is also revelation in latin. Wow. Never knew that. 
> 
> I'm so deep in Mystic Messenger it's not funny ;w; (Oh and speaking of, Of_Lights_and_Shadows wrote a MM!AU fic for ansatsu! Go check it out~ It's not karmagisa but 3-E/Gakushuu lol I love Gakushuu so muchhhhh)
> 
> I have a strange feeling Gakushuu is channeling all my frustrations. Poor guy needs to catch a break.

As expected, sleep did not come easy that night.

Karma groaned, pulling his pillow above his head, waiting for let the lethargy to set in, before sighing after a while and abandoning that certain idea.

He sat up, and eyed the inconspicuous notebook lying on his desk, reaching out for it once again, turning on his bedside lamp and flipping it open. The dried petals of the _shion_ greeted his vision, and he felt his heart ache. 

 _Nagisa..._  

Perhaps, he should’ve seen this coming. Nagisa’s words that day when they’d met on the rooftop should’ve tipped him off. He’d been too occupied with the thought of meeting Nagisa again to think about what the other boy had told him. 

_“Karma…” He hummed in reply at the other as Nagisa spoke up softly, leaning against his shoulders._

_“I was… thinking.” Karma turned his head to look down at the shorter boy, who was staring up at him with a gaze of awe and hope._

_“Yes?”_

_Nagisa pulled away, sitting upright and faced Karma, cupping his face in his small hands, he smiled as he aligned their foreheads together._

_“Since we’ve met in this school, finally, we’ll be able to be together again.” The redhead let out a breath of joyous laughter._

_“Definitely, Nagisa.” He pulled the other closer, pressing his lips lightly to the blue-haired boy’s, and continued in a whisper._

_“I swear, I won’t let you go this time.”_

_Nagisa’s eyes flashed for a split second, and then there was this brightness, a spark of happiness as he smiled against Karma’s lips. The first flash - filled with something dark that made Karma wary - had been so sudden that Karma thought he’d imagine it._

_“I know.” Nagisa replied with half-closed lids, leaning in for a kiss again._

_“I won’t, either. We’ll be together at all costs, I promise.”_

He should’ve known Nagisa was acting a little off, but he’d been to preoccupied with the boy himself to realise.

 _Should have… would have… All these things…_ Karma felt one end of his lip lift up in a humourless smile. He’s back to thinking about all these, even after he met Nagisa again.

How pathetic.

 _Schink._  

His eyes widened at the sound of his window’s glass being cut, and he sat up, narrowing his eyes in concentration, ready to intercept any attack, before seeing just who was by his windowsill.

Blue hair, azure eyes, fair skin.

“Na…gisa?”

But something was off about him, Karma realised, looking into the eyes of the other - it had that same sinister glint that he’d seen briefly that day on the rooftop - and not relaxing his stance. 

“Hello, Karma.”

 

* * *

 

“I wonder how Nagisa's doing.” Seijuurou commented, scrolling through his phone as Tetsuya climbed back into bed. The blue-haired heir was donning his shirt, which looked a tad too big on him, barely reaching his thighs and covering up the fresh, red marks Seijuurou had left there.

Tetsuya blinked, before pouting lightly, “You’re going to talk about Nagisa at this time? Seriously, Sei-kun.” He ended his accusation with a slightly uplifted tone, and the Akashi heir knew he was trying to suppress his laughter. The red-haired male sighed, smiling and reaching out his left arm in an invitation for Tetsuya.

The Kuroko heir smiled, and proceeded to snuggle into his fiancé’s embrace, resting his head on the other’s shoulder and watched as Seijuurou scrolled through his mailbox on his phone.

_Buzz._

They both blinked in unison, before the redhead smirked and Tetsuya smiled, looking up into mismatched red and gold irises.

 _Call from: Asano Gakushuu._  

“I don’t think we need to worry, Sei-kun.” 

Kuroko Nagisa was a good pawn, Seijuurou thought, pressing the ‘Accept’ button.

After all, he’d acted exactly the way they’d expect him to.

 

* * *

 

Nagisa had that pretty smile of his donned on his face, his posture casual, hands placed on either side of him and swinging his legs as he sat on the edge. Despite his non-threatening appearance, Karma couldn’t find it within himself to relax around the blue-haired male.

Amazing, how everything can change within a day. 

“So this is where you’re living for now… It’s a nice place, Karma.” The blue-haired male commented lightly, hopping into the room from the sill, looking around, before settling his eyes on Karma.

“Ah, Karma, don’t be so tense.”

“… Why.”

“Why what, Karma?" 

“Did you betray the Kuroko family?” Karma gritted out, feeling a thousand kinds of wrong about this situation - there was something about the person standing in front of him. It wasn’t Nagisa, but…

“I did. And I don’t have any regrets doing it,” Nagisa looked straight at him, and it took Karma all he had to not shudder at the intensity of his gaze. His figure, while usually not imposing, looked hauntingly regal under the lustre of the full moon, and his eyes - 

His _eyes_ \- those weren’t Nagisa's eyes. The eyes of the Nagisa he knew were gentle and soft and filled with laughter. What he saw were the eyes of a predator, having spotted its prey.

Karma didn’t like being anyone’s prey, even if it is Nagisa’s. 

“Why?”

“Because father separated us, that’s why!” The shorter boy narrowed his eyes, and the glint became sharper and more sinister at the mention of his father.

“But giving your brother’s work to the Brotherhood?”

“...I see you’ve spoken to Tetsuya-niisama…. Ha, the whole house deserves to be destroyed. And there’s no better way to do so than to destroy the Army itself. Plus…” Nagisa’s look softened, he looked at Karma almost tenderly, before turning his gaze to the moon with half-lidded eyes. 

“It’s not like it’ll matter soon.” 

The Akabane heir frowned. 

“What do you mean?” The shorter boy smiled at him, before walking to sit beside him on the edge of the bed, pulling on the collar of Karma’s sleepwear to bring him closer.

“Because,” The redhead shuddered when he felt Nagisa’s breath on his ear, “The world will end soon, Karma.”

_What?!_

He pulled back and stared at Nagisa for any signs of deception, but found none. The other merely continued smiling at him, innocently, in that indulgent manner that made Karma feel oddly inferior, as if he were a child.

“It’ll happen, at Christmas.” The blue-eyed male closed his eyes, sighing, “It’s such a pity, really… Christmas is your birthday, isn’t it, Karma. How I wish we could celebrate it together.”

“How.” Karma hissed out, ignoring Nagisa’s comments. The younger Kuroko laughed, a tinkling sound that set Karma on edge the same way Kuroko Tetsuya had earlier.

“The Brotherhood, that’s how. I won’t tell you the details, it’ll just ruin the fun, after all. It’ll be beautiful, I promise.” He beamed at Karma, before leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the lips, whispering gently. 

“I came here because I missed you.” He then saw the notebook lying on Karma’s table, and the redhead saw, for a split second, Nagisa’s eyes clouding over before clearing up, all traces of the sinister glint gone.

However, another split second, and the glint was back.

“I see you got my gift, I’m so happy.”

“Nagisa -” The boy climbed onto his windowsill, looked back at Karma, and smiled again, before hopping off.

“Good night, Karma.”

 _Well… Shit._  

He had to call Asano.

 

* * *

 

After a long day - the attack at school, news of Nagisa’s defection and dealing with his father - Gakushuu was rightly pissed when his phone buzzed in the middle of the night.

Hissing as he was jolted awake by the sound, he snatched it off the table and looked at the caller - it better be important. What the hell does Akabane want now? 

“Hello?” He snapped, burying his face into his pillows - he swore if this was because Akabane had some doubts about Nagisa… 

_“Nagisa just broke into my room.”_

“Wait. What?” His head snapped up, and he turned wide eyes towards the digital clock on his table - 01:47 - “What did he say?”

_“Nothing much… But he did tell me that the Brotherhood was going to not only destroy the army, but the world as well.”_

“What?" 

_“This year. At Christmas.”_

“The Brotherhood doesn’t have that ability to, are you sure Nagisa-kun’s not lying to you?”

 _“Not to me. Has he ever lied to you?”_ Gakushuu scoffed.

“Well, judging by the fact that neither of us knew that he was going to defect, I’d say he’s lied to us plenty.”

 _“…”_ Akabane had no comeback to that, good.

“Anyway, thanks for telling me. I need to call Akashi and report to him.” He paused, “We could meet at Yukimura-san’s place again tomorrow, since school is cancelled.”

_“…Asano.”_

“What?”

 _“There was something off about Nagisa. I couldn’t really tell, but he seems… different.”_ Gakushuu fell silent, not knowing how to reply to that. After all, Nagisa had been planning for his defection for a long time - who’s to say that the Nagisa he knew was a true persona, and not something he’d created to shake Gakushuu’s - and everyone else’s - suspicions off?

He didn’t know what to tell Akabane, since there was a chance that he’s never known the true Nagisa.

The thought of that produced an ache in his heart, which he was determined to ignore.

“…We’ll talk tomorrow. Get some rest, Akabane.”

_“Sure. See you then."_

Sighing as he ended the call, he frowned at his phone, feeling a headache beginning to build up. The Brotherhood was going to end the world? That sounded ridiculous, but they were still a threat to the army, so it wasn’t like he could brush Karma’s information off. 

He pulled up Akashi’s contact, and pressed the call button.

Lord knows if he was going to be awaken by a call, Akashi needed to suffer the same fate as well. 

 _“Gakushuu.”_  The other sounded perfectly awake - not that Gakushuu would know if he'd woken the older up, Akashi Seijuurou always sounded prim, proper and commanding, no matter the time. 

“Nagisa went to see Akabane earlier. Broke into his room.”

 _“Oh? Did he?”_ The strawberry blond felt his patience wearing thin, he really wasn’t in the mood for Akashi’s baiting questions. 

“Yeah. He told Akabane some things. Something about the Brotherhood going to end the world, on top of destroying the army.”

Had Gakushuu been more awake, he would’ve noticed the uncanny pause Akashi made at his report.

_“…The Brotherhood had always been filled with the fanatics of the supernatural, it’s not surprising they would think that they’ve come up with a way to destroy the world.”_

“So we’re going to brush this off?”

 _“For now, besides, since we’re dealing with them as a threat to the army, once we eliminate them, we’ll be able to save the world too.”_ The redhead answered wryly.

 _“Anyway, get some sleep tonight. And don’t make me remind you again that you’re not allowed to take individual actions, as per protocol.”_  

“I get it… Good night.” Gakushuu rolled his eyes when the line disconnected without a greeting. Like hell he was following that order.

Goodness, he was becoming like Akabane. He really needs more sleep.

 

* * *

 

Tetsuya sighed as Seijuurou ended the call with a frown on his face, he’d half-expected Nagisa to tell Akabane-kun about the Apocalypse, but he hadn’t thought his brother would do it this early.

“This doesn’t actually change anything.” He told Seijuurou, who nodded in reply. His fiancé was irritated, and Tetsuya could guess why. 

Nagisa had gone against orders - and while they’ve taken this scenario into consideration, Seijuurou was someone who disliked it when his orders weren’t followed.

The redhead merely hummed in reply, still deep in thought.

“Sei-kun?”

“Tetsuya, how confident of you that we can control the demon in Nagisa?” The Kuroko heir reached down to link Seijuurou’s hand with his, entwining their fingers, deep in thought.

“…Does it matter? Nagisa’s set to self-destruct at the end of all this.” He bit his lips, not liking what he was saying.

But he had to, there was no other choice. 

The Kuroko family had to fall. Seijuurou had to be emperor.

Nagisa… both he and Nagisa were just stepping stones to that end goal, after all.

“…Tetsuya.” Seijuurou looked at him, and the blue-haired phantom felt like he could not meet the eyes of his betrothed.

“Sei-kun,” He closed his eyes, biting out his words, “I promised. I’ll do this. I will get you there. It’s - it’s too la - late.” He felt tears gathering in his eyes, and heard Seijuurou’s sharp intake of breath. The redhead pulled his hand away from Tetsuya's increasingly tight grip, before reaching out to the other. 

Tetsuya felt the warm arms embracing him, Seijuurou’s presence surrounding him, as he stroked through his hair and whispered into his ears.

_God, Sei-kun, I would give you so, so much. Let me give you the world._

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I won’t talk about it anymore… Shh… It’s going to be all right, Tetsuya.” In his tears, he didn't see Seijuurou's pained expression, the redhead pulling his head closer into his chest, closing his eyes in a grimace and burying his face into the crying male's soft blue locks. 

_But is it, really?_

_We’ve come so far… Tetsuya-kun, I’m sure you know as well. This is a road of damnation - you’re betting lives on this little scheme of yours. Billions of lives._

_I can only hope that you don’t come to regret this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Tetsuya. Oh, Nagisa. 
> 
> My heart cries for the both of you ;A;
> 
> Also just a tip, the person speaking at the end? You'll meet them soon - no it's not an AC or a KuroBasu character (since no one would fit and I didn't want to be mean). But they're key nonetheless.


	11. hostia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _hostia - victim, sacrifice, sacrificed animal_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We meet an OC in this chapter - she is super, super important. I cannot stress how important she is ;w; If you want an explanation, do look at the end notes for this chapter.
> 
> A lot of Tetsuya in this chapter, to make up for the obscene amount of Karma and Nagisa coming up.
> 
> Also I'm in MysMe and university hell send halp pls - the next update might be a little late (I'm trying to not get my ass kicked by assignments and failing ;w;), but I liked this chapter especially because akakuro <3

_“Tetsuya,” The aforementioned boy looked up from his book._

_“Yes, father?”_

_“Come here.” He placed his bookmark back into the book, and hopped off the chair that he’d been sitting in, walking towards his father. General Kuroko looked him up and down, before nodding and gesturing for him to follow him._

_“There’s someone here I would like you to meet.” Someone? That was new, father never introduced him to anyone - probably because it was difficult to spot him with his low prescence, not to mention, he’s not exactly the type a General would want as the heir to the position._

_He knows father was ashamed of having him. If the fact that the other was never around wasn’t enough, the servants’ gossiping in the mansion would suffice._

_After all, they never knew he was there._

_Tetsuya was led to one of their sitting rooms - the biggest one, he noted, the one father always used for important military officers and other VIPs - and he blinked in curiosity._

_Just who was important enough to be in this room, yet alone someone father wanted to him to meet?_

_Two mops of red greeted his vision, and Tetsuya had to keep his reaction down; he’d recognized Lt. General Akashi Masaomi, the other was a close friend of his father’s after all, but Tetsuya had never seen him this close up._

_The other was a child - around his age, Tetsuya assumed, and was probably the Lt. General’s son._

_Akashi Seijuurou._

_He knew about the other - people talked about the younger Akashi all the time after all - he was hailed as a genius in their generation, excelling at everything, from battle strategy to techniques._

_The perfect heir for father, it seems._

_But Tetsuya had long since stopped feeling sorry for himself, or jealous of others._

_He was still his father’s son, and heir to the family, unfortunately for both of them. Father dealt with it by not appearing around him more than necessary, and Tetsuya personally didn’t mind that._

_No one wanted to be reminded that they were unwanted, after all. Besides, he could go through his days in peace, reading, researching on his spells and not having to care about whatever pressure heirs to households such as his are supposed to have._

_“Tetsuya,” He looked up at his father’s call, and felt a hand on his back, pushing him forward._

_“This is Lt. General Akashi Masaomi, and his son, Akashi Seijuurou-kun.” He resigned inwardly, and waited for the slew of questions - I don’t see him? Oh! - but was surprised when the older Akashi merely looked down and nodded at him in greeting._

_“Seijuurou, where are your greetings?”_

They can see me?! _No one has ever been able to do that, aside from his family, and the fact that both Akashis could do so surprised him._

_“Hello, Kuroko-kun. Nice to meet you.”_

_Tetsuya stopped his mental gaping and blinked, gathering himself._

_“Hello, Akashi-san." He then turned to the boy beside._

_"Nice to meet you too, Akashi-kun.”_

 

He awoke to a comforting embrace, as well as a familiar breathing. _Ah, Sei-kun._ The redhead hadn’t let go for one second throughout the night, and had stayed with him until he’d fallen asleep. 

It seems that he had blacked out while crying.

 _How weak_ , mentally berating himself, he frowned, before looking up into his fiancé’s sleeping face, feeling his frown slowly loosen up into a smile.

Having Akashi Seijuurou by his side was one of the best things that ever happened to him, he mused, pulling his left arm out of the redhead’s hug gently, reaching up to brush a few strands of his long red bangs away from his eyes.

The other always left him in awe. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve Seijuurou, but he was glad the other chose to stay with him.

“Good morning.” The sudden comment from his betrothed made him jump, snapping out of his daze. _He was awake all this time!_

“Don’t scare me, Sei-kun.” He sighed, snuggling into Seijuurou’s shoulder, drawing a chuckle from him.

“It’s your fault you didn’t notice that I’m awake, Tetsuya,” Seijuurou opened his eyes, red and gold pupils filled with mirth and smugness, and Tetsuya bit at his collarbone lightly in retaliation.

“Next time, don’t pretend to be asleep.”

“You were too cute, admiring me and all. I couldn’t help it.” Feeling his cheeks heat up, he decided he really needed to change the topic, now.

“I dreamt of the day we first met.” Ah, okay, that was not what he wanted to say, but anything to stop Seijuurou from teasing him. 

“Oh?” He purred in satisfaction as Seijuurou reached up, playing with his messy blue tresses.

“I think… I’m so lucky that I have you.” 

“Hmmm… I think I’m luckier, Tetsuya.” The redhead smiled, and Tetsuya felt himself mirroring his betrothed’s expression.

“Thank you, Sei-kun. You’ll continue to stay by my side, right?”

The thought of losing Seijuurou had crossed his mind more than a million times. His vibrancy and sheer absolutism was what brought and breathed life into Tetsuya’s normal but horribly quiet world.

He never knew there was so much more in the world he could do, with his physicality and situation, but Seijuurou had taught him that nothing was impossible.

Seijuurou, loving, darling Seijuurou, Seijuurou who was there for him - his Sei-kun, and only his - at his lowest, when no one else could see him, no one else could hear him, and no one else would acknowledge him.

Akashi Seijuurou had been there.

“Of course, Tetsuya, for as long as you want me to.”

He wanted Seijuurou’s forever - there was no way he would settle for anything less.

“Then stay with me, always.”

A sheer demand, delivered in a whisper; transient and delicate, but resolute in its binding.

In exchange for Akashi Seijuurou’s loyalty and dedication, Kuroko Tetsuya was willing to give him the world.

 

* * *

 

“Kuroko Nagisa said what?” Two pairs of shocked eyes were directed at Karma, who sighed, leaning back on his kitchen chair, mumbling around his toast.

“He said the world’s going to…” Pausing, he took the bread out of his mouth and grimaced at the memory, “I’ll tell you guys at Yukimura-san’s place later - don’t really want to explain it twice.” Hayami frowned at him.

“He broke in last night?”

“You should’ve called us!” Okuda chided, playing with her fingers in worry. Karma sighed.

“Nagisa placed silencing charms - he also fixed my window after he left with another - around the place, plus, I wanted to talk to him alone.”

“Karma-sama, you know that’s dangerous!”

“He wouldn’t hurt me.” For all that Karma wasn't sure about the other boy, he was absolutely sure about this. 

“But -”

“Ha~ya~mi~ your omelette is burning.” The green-eyed sniper looked back at her pan hurriedly, and Karma shot Okuda a look.

“It’s fine.” Seeing the girl was about to protest further, he frowned in disapproval, sighing in relief when she finally backed down.

Asano had told him to get more sleep last night - the redhead ended up not sleeping a single wink.

_Eight months until the end of the world, if Nagisa is to be believed, huh…_

He could understand Nagisa’s motives for wanting to destroy the Kuroko family - to be honest, Karma wanted a go at General Kuroko and Lt. General Akashi too, had he been in the position to - they weren’t lacking in the hate department from a lot of the other families, other than the Akabanes. What he did not understand was why Nagisa was willing to help the Brotherhood with an Apocalypse. 

If it was even possible in the first place.

 _Well, if Kuroko Tetsuya-sama says that the vampires and the Seraph gene are real, guess the Brotherhood could possibly have something up their sleeves._ It wasn’t a far-fetched theory, but Karma liked to have actual evidence before deciding on anything.

Hopefully, Asano shared his opinion. They’d have to wait for Nagisa to make his appearance again to question him on anything more.

Or, they could ask Kuroko Tetsuya if he had any idea what Nagisa was talking about. The Kuroko heir was a genius spell-creator and researcher after all. Karma brushed away the thought, feeling a frown forming on his face.

He trusted the Kuroko heir less than he trusted Akashi, and that was saying something.

Feeling his headache build up, he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, grabbing his strawberry drink and taking a sip.

Whatever he was preparing himself for this year, it definitely wasn’t this.

 

* * *

 

“You look like shit.”

“Thank you, Akabane. I could say the same for you.” Gakushuu glared at the redhead, who strolled leisurely into Yukimura-san’s apartment, his two aides in tow. Said brunette took a look at both of them, and frowned worriedly.

“Did the both of you not sleep last night? I know Nagisa’s current situation is bad, but…” The two of them exchanged looks, which didn’t escape Akari’s notice.

“What happened. Tell me.” It wasn't even a question, but a demand.

This was not going to be pretty. He looked into Yukimura's hard hazel eyes, and sighed.

 

* * *

 

He couldn’t remember when he’d first starting having those thoughts.

Perhaps it started with Onikage; lovely, kind, understanding Onikage. Onikage who understood what he felt for Seijuurou, and spoke to him, accepting all of his thoughts and entertaining his “what-if”s.

Then, one day, looking at Nagisa’s broken expression, as the younger boy sat in their foyer and cried until his voice was hoarse, until his eyes were red and puffy, he knew that he could - and he _would_ \- make his make-believe scenario come true.

The biggest irony in all this is that Onikage wouldn’t have appeared in his life without father’s demands.

Without father’s greed, he would never have been able to get so far.

First Onikage, and now the Kiju weapons.

Now, he was ready to make his last move, to take the Kuroko family down with him and watch the world burn in process. 

After all, a phoenix needed to burn into ashes, before it could rise again.

And when the world starts to build itself up once again, he’d make sure that Seijuurou was at the top of it.

 _“Tetsuya-kun,”_ A soft, kind voice entered his ears, and Tetsuya smiled, seeing the world of his consciousness, awashed in white, and feeling the incorporeal figure of Onikage appear next to him. The spirit in the sword was dressed in a white _kosode_ , her white hair layered with black tresses, azure blue eyes bright. She was pretty, with a small nose and a pair of cherry-shaped lips, painted in a blood red.

“Hey there,” He stroked the sheath of his blade in a greeting, and he heard her giggle.

 _“Did you have fun with Seijuurou-san last night?”_ Her teasing tone made his face heat up, and he shot her a glare. The demon only shrugged it off, however, giving him The Look in reply. 

 _“Don’t give me that look, Tetsuya-kun. I was merely curious, after all.”_ She smiled, her mouth stretching wider than that of a normal human’s, and Tetsuya was reminded that the individual he was speaking to wasn’t actually human.

“It was… enjoyable.” He answered vaguely, hoping that she wouldn’t push for more information. “Sei-kun was a little ticked off last night.” 

_“I guessed. You’re worried about something.”_

“Yes… Nagisa told Akabane-kun about the Apocalypse.” Her eyes widened, before she lowered her eyelids in worry and sadness.

_“I see Nagisa-san has made his decision?”_

“We didn’t give him a choice in the first place.” He replied in a steely manner, and Onikage grimaced.

_“Sometimes, I wonder if it’s my fault…”_

“It’s not you, it’s definitely me.”

_“I listened to your opinions, so -“_

“Are you saying that you shouldn’t have?” Tetsuya questioned in a soft but sharp voice, daring her to oppose - the demon spirit sighed, withdrawing from the argument.

 _“No, that’s not it.”_ She paused, considering her next words, _“I find it disturbing how much you’re willing to sacrifise, just for someone else.”_

“That ‘someone else’ was the only person to accept me for who I was, he saw me, Onikage, he _saw_ me. Accepted me for who I am, and _loved_ me.” The Kuroko scion hissed, his words almost disappearing into a soft whimper at the end. 

Onikage merely looked on, a deep sadness clouding her eyes. 

“That's why I’m willing to give everything if I have to, and Nagisa’s just the beginning.” 

With that, he disappeared, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

_“I wonder, Tetsuya-kun, if I really am the demon around here.”_

She may have entertained her master’s words with an open mind, but never in her wildest imaginations did she realise that it would come down to this. Nagisa-kun wouldn’t be the only lamb to suffer at the hands of Tetsuya, what scared her the most, was that Tetsuya might just destroy himself in the process.

_What then, darling Tetsuya-kun, what then?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think Nagisa's obsession with Karma is scary, think again. (Shitty brother of the year award for Tetsu-kun~? I'm sorry Tetsuya I love you ;w;) 
> 
> [Onikage - Demonic Shadow] She's a demon in Tetsuya's soul, but a separate entity entirely from his consciousness. It's very different from Nagisa's, which explains why Tetsuya seems to have a better grip on his sanity than Nagisa does - because his demon isn't controlling him at all; However, just by being in his consciousness, her demonic presence itself has a corrupting effect on him. Adding to the fact that Kuroko was already determined to give Akashi everything he can, her presence is basically the catalyst for Tetsuya's own brand of insanity. Thank all kami-sama above she actually cares about her host. 
> 
> Nagisa's a little different from Tetsuya, and much closer to Mahiru in OnS canon. 
> 
> I'll leave it up to you guys to decide for yourselves if both Tetsuya and Nagisa had the potential to be this insanely obsessed even without those influences~
> 
> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated! :)


	12. temptat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _temptat - tentative_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT DEAD. 
> 
> I'm so sorry this took so long omg. I've been struggling with so much shit - school, assignments and illness. Midterms have killed me and I have like a gazillion more - not to mention assignments, I haven't had the time to really sit down and write a chapter. ;A; 
> 
> (not to mention my mood has went down again - my mum's actually suggesting that I go back to therapy... but we'll see)
> 
> This is largely a filler chapter (I know, I'm a sad case for leaving you guys for so long and then giving this to you OTL) but I feel like Gakushuu and Karma needs to reach some kind of understanding... first.

The atmosphere in the room was stifling, and Karma tried hard not to burst out laughing at the way Yukimura Akari was looking at them - that is, Asano and he. She had her eyebrows knitted together, story hazel eyes narrowed and hands balled into fists, holding onto her skirt so tightly the redhead was sure that she was going to get wrinkles on them. Her face was pale and her lips were trembling.

“…What?” When she finally spoke, her voice was shaky, almost breathy. Karma couldn’t blame her, for he himself was still feeling from Nagisa’s sudden change last night.

“I can’t believe Nagisa-kun said all of that…” Sugino mumbled in wonder, and the redhead couldn’t hide his grimace. Nagisa’s visit last night still felt surreal, and a part of him was hoping that he’d wake up at any moment and all of this will be a joke. 

Asano cleared his throat.

“Well, I guess the next course of action is to figure out what action we are going to take now.” He looked at Karma, “According to Nagisa-kun, we do have about seven months, give or take, before the Apocalypse.”

Hayami frowned, “We’re going to do something about the Apocalypse?” The strawberry blond raised an eyebrow at her.

“Nagisa-kun’s involved in it, and if we want to capture him and shut down the Brotherhood, we’ll have to find out what they are up to and stop them.”

Yukimura bit her lips, face scrunching up in thought.

“I don’t know… It is Nagisa…” She looked down at her fists, “He’s good at what he does.”

“We'll just have to be better,” The Asano heir offered a cocky smirk, looking from the brunette to Karma, “Don’t we, Akabane?” Karma rolled his eyes.

“Nagisa has a headstart, we’ll have a lot to catch up on, and without any help.” He snapped, “How do you suggest we do that?” Asano placed his hand on his chin, index finger curling around the edge of his face, deep in thought.

“Father would realise if we’re snooping around… so will Akashi and Kuroko.” He looked up at Karma, “Does the Akabane family have a research organization?” Karma narrowed his eyes, feeling Okuda and Hayami tense up behind him.

“…Yes. Why?" 

“I have an idea,” Surprisingly, it was Okuda who cut Asano off, voice unusually steady.

“There is no way we’re letting you use the Akabane research facilities unless you tell us what it’s for!” Asano raised an eyebrow at the sudden bravery, and Okuda seemed to catch onto what she was doing, deflating with a blush on her face.

“…You have good aides, Akabane.” He shook his head in amusement, “But I was going to continue. We could ask Akashi and Kuroko for the details of what Kuroko was working on, and help them out.”

“If Nagisa and the Brotherhood are fast, we’ll just have to be faster.” Karma sighed.

“You’re forgetting that the General might not allow this.”

“We’ll just have to run that idea by Akashi and Kuroko, right?” The redhead pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Do you trust them?” A snort. 

“As far as I can throw both of them, actually. But I see no harm in this situation, do you?” Violet eyes looked at him, daring him to challenge his idea.

“No, no I don’t.” Asano’s idea did make sense, but Karma wasn't sure that alone was going to stop Nagisa, considering he _did_ leave everything behind. It was a drastic measure, would completing the Kiju weapons on time - and before the Brotherhood - really stop them? 

“We’ll still have to figure out how they’re going to destroy the world.” He replied blandly, feeling a headache coming on - that was the real problem, wasn’t it? Them, a group of high school students, trying to stop the end of the world.

Karma really wasn’t prepared for this. 

“Um,” Sugino spoke up, and hesitated when the room’s attention fell onto him - Asano and Karma’s stares were intense - before pulling himself together and clearing his throat. 

“I have a few people in mind who could help - they’re asking about what happened to Nagisa, too.” Yukimura perked up at Sugino’s suggestion, before nodding her head in agreement. 

“Are you talking about that person? They’re not going to be happy. I’d really rather she not know about this, but I guess considering what’s happening now, the more help the better?” The brunette bit her lips in worry, sighing in resignation. Karma exchanged raised eyebrows with Asano, before Asano turned back to the blue-haired male.

“I guess at this point, any trustworthy help is appreciated.”

“Okay, that aside,” Karma cut in, impatient to begin doing… something - Nagisa was at stake here, he wasn’t going to waste time dilly-dallying - as Sugino brought out his cellphone to contact whoever he and Yukimura had in mind, “Any solid plans that do not involve Akashi Seijuurou or Kuroko Tetsuya?” He saw the strawberry blond shooting a look at him, an inquisitive eyebrow raised.

“I don’t think we have anywhere else to start?” Nagisa’s fiancé commented, a hint of reluctance and annoyance in his tone. The redhead closed his eyes in frustration - he and Asano were usually on the same wavelength, if neither of them could come up with anything solid…

“Fuck. _Fuck._ We have to talk to those two again?!” It came out in a hiss, sharp and full of distrust.

“Seems like we don’t have a choice.” The Asano heir then turned back to Sugino, “How’s the call coming along?” Yukimura offered him a slight smile.

“They’re not happy about the news… but they’ve agreed to help.” Sugino laughed awkwardly beside the brunet, a hand reaching out to ruffle his head nervously - Karma thought he heard the other boy mutter something like _Yeah, she’s literally spitting fire_. Interesting, so it’s a girl? Asano groaned, having caught Sugino’s offside comment. 

“It’s Nakamura-san, isn’t it.” Yukimura laughed, shoulders shaking at the Asano heir’s sour look. One look at Hayami and Okuda told him that the name didn’t strike a bell at all, so it wasn’t just him.

“Rio’s a little… eccentric. She and Asano-san has never gotten along.” The brunette seems to have noticed Karma’s confusion, and offered an explanation. Karma couldn’t help but to pity Asano as he reached up to massage the bridge of his nose.

“'Eccentric’ is an understatement...” The strawberry blond mumbled under his breath, “But she’s a good person underneath. Cares for Nagisa-kun, too.” Yukimura beamed at Asano. 

“Asano-kun does like her, no matter what he says~” Said person snorted, crossing his arms, “Hardly, I put up with her antics because Nagisa-kun likes her, that’s all.”

Now that got Karma’s attention.

“Oh? Someone the Great Asano-sama is afraid of?” He teased, nudging his elbow at Asano, who rolled his eyes at him.

“Not in the slightest. She’s just… weird.” He stood up, a hand smoothing out his pant leg, before looking down at Karma, who raised an eyebrow at him. Asano had a pinched frown on his face, making the redhead blink in surprise. What is up with him all of a sudden?

The room watched on as Asano continued to stare at Karma in silence, before the strawberry blond sighed, turning to look at Yukimura.

“Did Nakamura-san say when she’ll be available?” The brunette looked surprised at being addressed out of the blue - considering Asano was staring at Karma so intently just a moment ago, his shift in attention caught everyone by surprise - blinking rapidly before nodding.

“She said she’s coming over now…” The hazel-eyed girl trailed off at Asano’s frown.

“Call her off, Akabane and I will meet with Akashi and Kuroko, alone.” He made sure to stress on the last word when Okuda and Hayami opened their mouths to disagree - the two were caught off guard by the intensity of Asano’s command, frowning in frustration before looking to Karma. 

Asano’s suggestions made sense, considering they were dealing with top military secrets, there was no way Kuroko or Akashi was willing to give those away to anyone who weren’t related to the situation, Nagisa’s friend or not.

“Stay here, I’ll go with Asano.”

“But Karma-sama!” 

“It’s fine.” Their complaints died down at his insistence. He sighed in relief when they did not continue their insistence.

Sighing, he stood up, raising his arms and letting out a big yawn, before looking at Asano with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Asano snorted.

“For you, actually.”

“Oh, didn’t know The Asano-sama waited for anyone, hmmm?”

“Shut up, Akabane,” snapping at Karma, Asano turned to look at the other occupants of the room. 

“Thank you for having us over today, Yukimura-san.” He nodded at the brunette, who returned his acknowledgement; lavender eyes scanned the room, “We’ll be in touch. Let’s go, Akabane.” Karma rolled his eyes at the other's athoritative tone, placing his hands behind his head and interlocking his fingers.

“Yes, yes…” He tilted his head towards the others, giving them a lopsided grin. “I’ll see you guys soon, then!”

“Karma-sama!” Okuda’s panicked voice drew his attention to her, the bespectacled girl had her hands fisted on her skirt, and was looking up at him with a fierce light in her eyes.

“Please stay safe!” He saw Asano frown and sigh lightly from the corner of this eye, and he nodded at the other girl, glad and touched that she was worried for him - it wasn’t just her, he could tell from the look Hayami was shooting at him that she wanted him to be on his guard at all times, as well. Smiling, he nodded. 

“Thank you, I will.”

 

* * *

 

“The confidence that your aides have in me is very reassuring,” Gakushuu commented drily as they entered the lift of Yukimura’s apartment. Akabane merely shrugged in reply, leaning back onto the handrails, shooting him a grin.

“They’ve been trained to view you as an enemy all their lives, I doubt they were going to let me walk into a room with Akashi, you and Kuroko without any kind of help.” The strawberry blond rolled his eyes, before falling into a thoughtful silence. 

Having Akabane around this year was not out of his calculations at all, since he’d known that the redhead would attend First Shibuya High - whether his intentions were to look for Nagisa-kun or not - regardless of whatever the Akabane family wanted their heir to. General Kuroko and Lt. General Akashi made it compulsory for them, and as a disgraced family, they could not go against the ruling families’ orders.

Gakushuu knew this as well as he knows his own name. Hence, he’d spent his whole childhood - and teenage years up until now - preparing to deal with Akabane Karma, the heir to a disgraced family, the boy who had Nagisa-kun’s heart. There was an importance in making sure that he balanced his interactions with the other - his agreement with allowing Nagisa-kun to allow the other to spend time with Akabane, and not interfering with their relationship, as well as pleasing his father and the military higher ups in making sure that this Akabane heir was beaten down as well.

He vaguely wondered just what Lt. General Akashi and General Kuroko did to Akabane’s father - from what he’d heard from Nagisa-kun, it didn’t seem like Akabane liked to talk about his parents at all.

Now, however, it seems like that’s going to be the least of his worries. Plus, he’d basically declared to Akashi and Kuroko - and Gakuhou - that he and Akabane were going to be working together to target Nagisa-kun, of all people.

What worries him the most is that none of them seemed to mind - then again, Akashi and Kuroko were up to something, and Gakuhou simply liked to underestimate him. 

 _“Well, now… What should I do.”_ He thought, as the lift came to a stop. Meeting the redhead’s eyes, he realised the other was staring at him ever since he fell silent.

“What?” groaning mentally when he realised that he might’ve sounded too defensive - he really wasn’t trying to be antagonistic towards Akabane at this point, despite the demand that accompanies his status to do so, but they were supposed to be cooperating for Nagisa-kun’s sake, and Gakushuu refused to mess this up - he merely pressed his lips together and shut his eyes, resigning himself to a snark comment from Akabane.

“Nothing,” Gakushuu’s eyes snapped open in surprise, watching Akabane shift back and forth on the heel of his feet, eyeing him with a grin. “Just wondering what you were thinking about~”

One really needed a lot of patience to deal with Akabane Karma - just what did Nagisa-kun see in the other anyway?

“You, actually.” Gakushuu deadpanned, and now it’s the redhead’s turn to open his eyes in surprise. With a huff, he turned away from the other and walked towards the main entrance of the building.

“Let’s go, we’re wasting daylight.”

Gakushuu swore that he could hear a soft giggle amidst Akabane’s grumbling in the distance - a soft voice that sounded, strangely, like Nagisa-kun.

It was an unconventional arrangement and partnership, but Gakushuu thought he could work with this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was about to double update as one chapter, but I didn't want to spoil the chapter lengths... So maybe you'll get another update soon. I finally have time to catch a breather. The past two weeks have been hell - moreso than the previous two before then - I was crying almost every night over my fucking grades and it was horrible (just cause it wasn't an A... I was on the Dean's List last year and I really don't want to lose my place on it... ahhh fuck). 
> 
> RIO IS COMING, PEOPLE. MY QUEEEEEEEN.


	13. conscius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _conscius - aware_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised a double update, didn't I? Soooo here it is.

Asano Gakushuu, was, Karma reflected, an interesting individual. Before meeting the other in person, he’d only heard about the blond in rumours, and, of course, when Nagisa’s engagement was announced. 

That hadn’t been pretty at all. 

_“Nagisa is… what?” Golden eyes widened in disbelief, as he looked up at his father, hands shaking and mouth open in shock. The older man could only look at him sadly, and crouched down with a sigh, placing a hand on his son’s head._

_“I’m…sorry, Karma. But you know this had to happen eventually.” The redhead narrowed his eyes, feeling tears pool in his eyes._

_He wouldn’t cry. He had to be strong, otherwise he’d never get Nagisa back._

_Nagisa…_

_His father watched his attempts to stifle his sniffs and hold back his tears with an expression of pity, and he felt his fists clench in anger and frustration. He didn’t want the other’s pity, not when he had fallen so easily to the pressures from the Akashi family - so what if they were a branch family with a disgraced origins? That was more than a few hundred years ago, he didn’t get why he had to be subjected to this kind of treatment just because of that - and not when he could do nothing but obey the Imperial Army._

_He hated them, he hated them all. He hated his father too._

_“Karma…” The reassuring warmth of his father’s embrace was just too much - he wanted Nagisa, he didn’t even want to be the stupid next head of the household, he just wanted Nagisa - and suddenly, everything just became too overwhelming -_

_The sobs came, rapid and harsh, and Karma cried his heart out, until his voice was hoarse and scratchy, his throat raw and itchy, his eyes red and puffy._

_Asano Gakushuu. He will never forget that name._

Indeed, he never did. He’d never cried again since then, but thoughts of the Asano heir would pop up in his mind every often, especially since Nagisa basically occupied every single moment of his free thoughts when he was not in his lessons.

The thoughts of Nagisa leaving him was what plagued him for most of his days after - they had been children, who’s to say the blue-haired boy’s feelings for him wouldn’t change?

In fact, Karma himself was surprised that his feelings for the other had stayed for that long - but he supposed it was just a side effect of fixating and thinking about someone constantly. He hadn’t count on Nagisa doing the same.

He’d always thought the other had moved on - forgotten about him. After all, he was an Akabane, and they were of different status since birth.

Asano Gakushuu was fitting for Nagisa in every way. The strawberry blond was the heir to one of the ten ruling families under the Kuroko - needless to say the Akashis were ranked first - family, had brilliant grades, received excellent training in combat, and was good looking, the princely presence to Nagisa’s prettiness.

Karma wasn’t belittling himself in anyway - he ignored the voice in his head which sounded like Nagisa that berated him - but he’s lost since birth. His only sin was to be born into the wrong family. 

The cruelty of birth lottery. Had he been born an Akashi, things would’ve been different.

For a long while after receiving the news, he stewed in his jealousy of Asano, the boy he’d never even met, but could have everything he had ever desired.

It was also that bias perception that had led him to conclude that the strawberry blond was probably a haughty spoiled brat, before the past few days happened, and completely destroyed his impression.

He looked up from beneath his bangs, and eyed the Asano heir, who was leaning against the metal wall of the lift, eyes closed and a frown evident on his face.

The other was haughty, yes, but rightfully so. Karma hadn’t seen him in a full-on battle, but his reaction from the incident the other day had shown the redhead that the other was skilled and took his training seriously. He didn’t look down on Karma - that could arguably be Nagisa’s influence - like the other heirs did, and was willing to strike an alliance with him in an amicable manner - he hadn’t seen a thread of reluctance from the other at all. 

 _Curious, very, very curious._ Karma concluded as the lift came to a stop at the ground level, and Asano jerked up to meet his gaze. Lavender-coloured eyes clouded with slight confusion before clearing up. 

“What?” It seems like he was harsher than he intended - Asano didn’t want to antagonize him at all, that was a nice change - and Karma watched with growing amusement as the other closed his eyes in silent resignation, before breaking out into a full-on grin.

“Nothing~” Oh, this was so interesting, there was no way he was letting this go, “Just wondering what you were thinking about~” He sing-songed, rocking on his heels.

“You, actually.” The deadpan reply had honestly caught him off-guard, and the redhead felt his eyes widen - was Asano for real?

Asano, however, didn’t give him a chance to reply, as he huffed and strode out of the lift.

“Let’s go, we’re wasting daylight.” Karma shook himself out of his reverie, looking at the other’s retreating back - straight, upright and confident. It’s so different from Karma, who’s always so relaxed and laid-back. Asano was actually a born-leader, trustworthy and deserved everyone’s loyalty.

Karma thought that perhaps, he could trust the other after all.

He had to, for they were the only ones left who could save Nagisa.

Sighing, he smiled and followed the other out of the building.

 

* * *

 

The second visit to Akashi-and-Kuroko - Karma had deemed them as such, for they were always together whenever he and Asano visited, they might as well be joined at the hips (he tried hard not to think about the other aspects of what that could mean) - was at a fast-food restaurant, of all places.

He thought Akashi was too snobby for such a place - it seems like Asano was too, judging by the slightly off-putting look he had on his face - but one look at the older duo, he was reminded of what Nagisa had told him once.

Right. Kuroko Tetsuya was the reason why they were here. Judging from Akashi’s disapproving look, it seems like the blunette was the only one who wanted to be here. While Karma was all right with fast-food, he didn’t want to be near his seniors anymore than he had to, and meeting both of them twice in two days was considered “way too much”. 

“Hello, Akabane-kun, Asano-kun.” The blue-haired male greeted amicably, nodding his head at them, before turning his attention back to the cup nested in his palms. Akashi frowned at him, before looking up at the both of them.

“Karma, Gakushuu. Take a seat.” The gold-eyed boy had half a mind to not do so just to piss the Akashi heir off - he knew from experience that Akashi Seijuurou hated looking up at anyone, and Gakushuu and Karma were both taller than him even when they were standing up, he obviously would hate it more if they were seated down - but one jab at the ribs from Asano led to him rolling his eyes and obeying the other’s command.

“We have some questions for you, Akashi-senpai.” Akashi raised an eyebrow in amusement, and Karma narrowed his eyes as Kuroko’s mouth seem to twitch upward around his straw.

“I thought you do. You’re interested in knowing what we think of Nagisa’s movement from now on.” It was statement, would it kill the other to phrase anything as a question for once? 

Scratch that, it probably would. Although it’d make Karma’s life so much easier.

He watched as Asano paused, before nodding cautiously.

“That, and we’d like to request for a copy of the things that Nagisa stole.” The other redhead narrowed his eyes, and this time, Kuroko raised an eyebrow in open amusement, removing the straw from his mouth, he answered this time.

“Nagisa will probably lay low from now on.” He started, tone as flat as ever, betraying nothing, not even the amusement playing in his eyes. Karma couldn’t shake the feeling that he and Asano were being played like puppets here and that the older two had foreseen this, and he didn't like it.

But it was their only move now, and even if it meant playing to their whims, he had to take it. 

“The files he took weren’t complete by any means, although they were close to it. We’re working as fast as we can to complete the research now, before the Brotherhood completes it before we do.” The bluenette spoke, voice soft - Karma noticed that there were privacy barriers around them, he couldn’t tell when the other had placed them, and that was surprising because nothing caught him off guard usually - and wistful, eyes not staring at them, but far off into the distance.

“Which means you two can take things slow for now,” Karma clenched his fists at Akashi’s suggestion, and saw Asano’s eye twitch in his peripheral vision, “and we’ll update you if we get any new information on Nagisa’s movements.” 

“With all due respect,” Asano gritted out, “You can’t expect us to sit around and do nothing when Nagisa-kun’s out there?” Akashi looked amused at the blond’s comment, and Karma was honestly worried that the other might just start a ruckus here - although with his steel control it was unlikely, but he also knows that Asano liked Nagisa, so Karma couldn’t tell what he would do - and privacy charms wouldn’t work if they did end up in a fight.

Karma understood his anger, he was extremely angry as well. Years of being oppressed just taught him to control himself a lot better than Asano did, especially when it came to an Akashi.

Ah, maybe he was more domesticated into the bloody hierarchy than he’d thought.

“There’s no use in panicking now, Asano-kun, if Nagisa isn’t going to act, we’d have no information at all on how to counter him.” Kuroko commented lightly, his attention back onto the both of them.

“Stop acting like a brat, Gakushuu.” Akashi berated, “You should know that if Nagisa wants to lay low, he lays low.” Karma reached out to squeeze on the other’s elbow lightly, and frowned when the other glared at him, lavender irises now a stormy violet. He mentally heaved a sigh of relief when Asano finally backed off.

“As for the files and project details, you’ll get them.” The both of them blinked in unison.

“Huh?”

Akashi looked amused, Kuroko laughed softly.

“We’ll pass them to you when school reopens.” Collecting himself from his surprise, Karma narrowed his eyes, that was easy. Too easy.

“Hmm? And here I thought we were going to have to do something drastic to get them from you.” He commented, “So why the easy access?” The Akashi heir merely stared at him.

“They aren’t top secret anymore, now that Nagisa has exposed them to the Brotherhood. They’ll leak out, eventually. Plus, it’s better that you get them from us, rather than do something desperate and get into trouble that I can’t get the both of you out of.” His reply came lightly, as if he was commenting on the weather.

There was definitely something going on here.

“…You’re not going to ask why we need it?” Asano questioned in an incredulous tone.

Karma didn’t like it, not one bit. Akashi Seijuurou would never do anything that wouldn’t benefit him in a way.

“I already know why you need it, there is no need for me to ask.” He really wished the other would stop sounding like he was absolute and amused, as if Asano and he are kids with entertaining antics.

The coil in his abdomen tightened, and he looked over at Kuroko -

who was staring straight at him with an unreadable expression, a glint in his eyes that sent cold shivers up Karma's spine.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked away, and down at his palms, clenching and unclenching them repeatedly.

Asano had fallen silent beside him as well, so Akashi continued.

“Just be sure to report any breakthroughs back to us, and I trust that you’ll keep an eye on the Akabane, Gakushuu.”

Karma really wished he could punch something - someone, preferably Akashi, or Kuroko - right now, if only to give this uneasy feeling in his stomach some relief.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karma is always snarky when dealing with Akashi - he hates him for a good reason, probably more than the hate he had harboured for Gakushuu, since they are on the same side now - and Kuroko. Poor bby, he's so frustrated that he's being played (he is) but he can't seem to find a way out. Good news is he and Gakushuu are learning to tolerate each other. 
> 
> yeah they literally had the whole meeting in a Maji Burger outlet. It went something like this between Akashi and Kuroko: 
> 
> Akashi: Tetsuya, no we're not meeting Gakushuu and Karma at Maji.  
> Kuroko: Please, Sei-kun, I want my vanilla milkshake?  
> Akashi: No, Tetsuya.  
> Kuroko: *pouts and sulks*  
> Akashi: ...fine, but you're eating something nutritious after that. 
> 
> (He's so whipped) 
> 
> I'm not too sure when the next update will be, but things will be pretty mild for a while (we get to see the formation of Karma's team!) jfc this fic is gonna take me forever but I'm not giving up on it cause I have it planneddddd. ALL OF IT. INCLUDING THE ENDING.
> 
> Stay with me please and don't give up on me ;w; I haven't given up on myself....


	14. per gradus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _per gradus - gradual_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT DEAD. 
> 
> I have to apologise first for disappearing for so long. First, YOI completely caught onto me and refused to let me go until like maybe 4 months ago? Then, my emotional state went downhill again because of school and roommate and housing problems (I was so stressed it wasn't funny. I had my funeral and my suicide planned out at one point in time BUTTTT that's not for you guys to know, ahahah). My grades took a huge hit this year. 
> 
> And then my parents told me to go travelling for the first month of vacation (to alleviate my mood). So I went to Japan and then back to China to visit some relatives. I also had work almost immediately after I returned... about the same time, my macbook pro broke down (you know, right after I posted on tumblr saying I WAS GOING TO UPDATE. JFC.) 
> 
> Yeah. I know. Not fun. Thank god Apple decided to release their new macbook pros at the exact same time so I got myself a new one. 
> 
> Now that work is gradually getting stable. I have more time to update again. 
> 
> I have also come to realise that the OnS manga has come to an end just recently.... lmao. I haven't been keeping up with it. I haven't kept up with anything. It's gonna go all AU for OnS from now on too oops. 
> 
> I'm sorry, and thank you all for not giving up on me. I'm not giving up on this fic because I like the plot, so. 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter. Also. happy birthday to me. I'm officially legal in every sense, and everywhere.

They – he and Asano, because there was no way Karma was going anywhere with Akashi-and-Kuroko – left the fast food chain outlet with a sense of foreboding, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

It wasn’t until they were a good distance away from the restaurant’s glass windows that Karma chanced a look at Gakushuu, whose frown has yet to dissipate. The strawberry blond kept his glare fixed straight, and his fists were clenched tightly in the pockets of his sweater.

Karma understood exactly how the other felt at that moment – the bitter sense from Nagisa’s betrayal seems to have finally set in, and Akashi and Kuroko’s behaviours are making things worse.

It had been easy. _Way too easy._

He was sure the Asano heir thought the same – neither of them were idiots (quite the opposite, actually), and even an idiot would be able to figure out that Akashi Seijuurou was someone who didn’t do things this easily. There was definitely a hidden motive. The question was: what, and where?

Neither of them had anything to work on at the moment, so until they could get answers, they’d have to dance to Akashi’s will. Karma bit down the sense of bitterness, frustration and fear for Nagisa (not _of_ , no matter how off Nagisa had seemed the night before, Karma would never fear Nagisa) that was swirling into a vortex in him, consuming all of his rationality.

They had to keep themselves together, or they’d never get to the end of this.

“They’re up to something.” The redhead was jostled out of his thoughts as he registered the voice as his companion’s (well he can’t exactly say he and Asano are strangers or mere classmates, considering their pasts), before scoffing.

“You’d have to be more precise there, genius. I’m sure everyone caught up in this shit has their own agenda.” Asano turned and glared at him, and Karma offered him a tilt of his lips, too feral and sardonic to be called a smile.

“I’m talking about Akashi and Kuroko Tetsuya.”  

“We’d figured that out eons ago, nice of you to catch up, Asano-sama.” He narrowed his eyes in satisfaction when Gakushuu scowled, paused, before rolling his eyes and brushing his comment off.  

Seems like the Asano heir was taking the higher ground between the two of them and helping their particular partnership stay intact. All for Nagisa’s sake.

_Look at you, can’t even pull yourself together –_

“Yes, but now, everyone’s motives have come to light – everyone’s except theirs.” The strawberry blond continued as if Karma hadn’t made a snarky comment at him, reaching up to place his index finger under his chin in contemplation.

“And we’re both being used.” Karma shrugged, “Figures, typical Akashi-move, isn’t it? Besides, it’s working in our favour at the moment, so why worry about it now?”

“What the – Akabane, do you approach all your problems this way?” The other had stopped walking, and was now giving him the evil eye out right. Karma groaned inwardly.

“Look, I’m just saying – even if we do want to worry about this now, we can’t, since we’ll be too busy with Nagisa to actually do anything.”

“Kuroko Tetsuya did say Nagisa was going to lay low, so I don’t see why we won’t have the time to snoop around.”

“And have less time to prepare for whatever the Brotherhood and Nagisa are going to unleash upon us? No thank you, I don’t know about you, but I’d like to focus on Nagisa at the moment.” One look at Asano’s faltering expression tells Karma that he’s won the battle… for now.

“… I don’t like it anymore than you do, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth right now.” Not when Akashi was feeling generous, and when they still had use for him.

His companion’s silence was proof that Karma was right.

* * *

 

“Well, that went pretty well.” Tetsuya commented, his lips not leaving the tip of his straw, as their juniors left the restaurant, each with their own frowns etched onto their faces. Seijuurou raised an eyebrow at him.

“Of course it did – I didn’t think you’d doubt my plans, Tetsuya.” The slight hint of amusement was a tell-tale sign that his fiancé didn’t feel insulted at all. He replied the other’s mirth with a quirk of his own lips.

“I was expecting Asano-kun to outright demand us to tell him what we were playing at, to be honest.” At least, the Asano scion had looked close to doing so. Tetsuya was glad that he’d been able to hold it in – that had told Tetsuya several things.

That Asano Gakushuu was worthy of succeeding his family, and, perhaps, had things not gone the way they did, he was truly worthy of Nagisa.

Perhaps, in another universe, one where Sei-kun didn’t exist, he’d be ruling the army one day.

Too bad for Gakushuu, because Seijuurou would always be above him. Tetsuya would see to it that Seijuurou had everything in the end.

“Give and take, my dear Tetsuya. Gakushuu knows that better than anything else.” For going on offence towards Seijuurou and Tetsuya at the moment would mean losing their support and their information in the long run – the blue-haired scion had to give it to Asano Gakuhou, who had clearly taught his son well.

Unlike a certain someone Tetsuya knew.

Pushing down the familiar feeling of disgust and hatred, he offered a mumbled reply, returning to his drink and ignoring the queer look his significant other was shooting at the paper cup in his hands.

There’s a lot to be done, but things are going smoothly so far.

He hoped Nagisa would stay away and actually lay low for now – it was always difficult to tell, with the demon around. If he doesn’t, then…

Well, sacrifices have to be made. This is war, after all.

* * *

 

If there was one thing Asano Gakushuu hated the most in this world, it was the lack of control.

Growing up in a household as strict as his had taught him many things, growing up with his father had taught him even more. No matter what opinion the Kuroko scion held of him, Gakushuu didn’t live in denial at all. He knew his personality was more than likely a product of his own father’s need for control, drilled and hammered into him since young.

He didn’t usually mind it, since it brought him to where he was today. A high notch, way above the rest of his cohort (Akabane not withstanding, mind you – the other was always a wild card). But his personality also meant that when faced with uncertainties beyond his control, he would get extremely uncomfortable with it.

Uncertainties, such as the situation he’s currently stuck in.

“Well, are you going to take the file? I don’t have forever-nanodayo.” Pressing his lips together in a tight line, he took the file from the green-haired male in front of him. Figured that neither Akashi nor Kuroko would come in person to deliver the file to him.

In fact, no one has seen either of them since school reopened. It seems like the Kiseki no Sedai is keeping the council running in Akashi’s absence (although he was sure it was only Midorima Shintarou and Momoi Satsuki, because the other members are definitely not diligent enough to pull it off).

Usually, Akashi’s absence would work in Gakushuu’s favour. Recently, however, it just sets him off the edge.

“… Thank you, Midorima-senpai.” The sniper sniffed, pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose (and carrying a Hachiko plushtoy in his other hand), before sighing.

“Whatever you’re doing. Be careful. These files, while no longer top secret, cannot be leaked to the public in any way. Am I clear?”

“Yes, of course, senpai.” But of course the Army wouldn’t want the public knowing that an apocalypse was going to occur. Even if there is a high likelihood of it being a scam.

Gakushuu liked to believe that Nagisa wouldn’t let it happen.

But who’s to say that he actually knew Nagisa in the first place?

* * *

 

School had reopened pretty quickly for all of them, once the Imperial Army had confirmed that it was no longer a possible target in the foreseeable future, with the gym and arena areas cordoned off for reconstruction and renovation. 

If their thrice-damed government and army worked fast, Karma liked to think that their little renegade group didn’t fare too badly either.

They had elected to setting up a small base at Yukimura’s place, with the girl (her hair was now green, and worn in twin-tails, Karma had exchanged looks with Asano the moment they’d met up with the others again and mutually agreed to not ask) saying that the place belonged almost exclusively to her since her sister was almost never around (“It’s no problem at all! Plus, she won’t ask questions even if she were!”). It was also the place they’d have the most privacy, considering Asano’s family situation and Karma’s current standing.

There’s no need to give Gakuhou more things to spy on. His companion had joked, and Karma pretended to not notice the slight frowns from Sugino and Yukimura – Asano had politely done the same thing. 

It was also the place where Okuda and Hayami felt the safest outside of their own apartment – not that they were safe anywhere, but at least it wasn’t the Asano estate – and they were at least okay with being in the same space with Asano for extended periods of time. 

Therefore, it was decided that their routine would be to meet up at Akari’s apartment after school every day to examine the files from the Kuroko family, as well as to decide on how to proceed next.

Which was why, Karma thought, leaning back as far as he was physically able to while seated on the floor with his legs crossed, this uncanny arrangement was going to be his reality for the next couple of weeks, foreseeably. He was holding a piece of paper from the file, and holding it up so that he reading it while facing up and towards the ceiling.

Asano scowled at him from his position opposite Karma in the circle they had formed in order to work on the file together – with papers scattered about in the area of the circle, and packages of snacks and tidbits laying about in the space out of the circle.

Akashi had only given them one hardcopy (of course he wouldn’t give them anything else) – and that short bastard (maybe it was Kuroko, either way, they both fit the bill) had placed charms on it so it wasn’t reproducible via any medium, digital or magical. 

Karma hated to admit it, but that guy (again, whether Akashi or Kuroko, it was debatable) was good at what he did.

“You’re going to push your strawberry milk over if you continue leaning back any further, Akabane.” Karma scoffed, removing the paper from his line of sight and raising his head so that he was looking at Asano without actually lifting himself back up.

“Don’t be such a drama queen, Asano. It’s tetra pak, so that’s not going to happen.” He lifted the piece of paper back again and squinted at it, unsure if it’s just his eyes playing tricks on him or he’d gone delusional from staring at runes for so long (for all that they knew about runes and they were taught the language in spellcasting class, Kuroko Tetsuya was a genius in that field for a reason – they were taking ages to just sort through the first few pages and there was a lot more to go) but was there something below the runes, under the light?

“This is going nowhere,” Yukimura mumbled, rubbing at her eyes in frustration. Akashi hadn’t been kidding when he said all the files that Nagisa had stolen. He’d meant – _all_ of it.

From the army’s organizational structure, to the functions of various squadrons, and all that other whatnots in between. The ones that Karma didn’t need, and the ones that were vital to them – since they are encoded in runes, it was taking damn long for them to actually decode the damn thing to figure out if it was of relevance to them. 

What the hell was Akashi planning, giving a bunch of high schoolers (not to mention an Akabane) such sensitive information? There was no doubt he’d known that this information was going to be shared with Yukimura and the others (Karma didn’t know what Akashi Seijuurou do not know, is that guy a fucking deity or something) – so why share such details with them?

Definitely hidden agenda here – hold on, was that…

“…. Oi, Asano.” 

“… What?” 

“Look at your paper under the light.” Karma paused, “All of you.”

He was met with looks of confusion, before the others followed suit. 

“….oh.” He heard Hayami breathe out in amazement.

“… damn it.” Definitely Asano.

Karma didn’t know whose idea it was, and what Akashi-and-Kuroko are playing at now, but whoever thought up of the idea of hiding another set of information etched under the printed ones, visible only under light, was a bloody genius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, Akashi didn't make a mistake in giving Karma the file at all. There is a reason for it (of course there is, it's Akashi-sama) - and only he and Tetsuya knows about the little, ah, extra content. There's a reason for that too. 
> 
> You'll also know what it is.... next chapter. I'm half heartedly ready to add slow burn plot to the tags cause I like writing the emotional states of the characters more than the plot itself lmao hence why Rio hasn't appeared although she's so closeeeeee (there's also about a gazillion subplots because Karma's team has to come to fruition but eh we will get there I swear). I had to cut it off here to adhere to the chapter length. Already working on the next. 
> 
> Just a little tidbit: Karma's attitude is going to get him into a huge fight one day.
> 
> Another fun tidbit: Karma's position is actually possible if you have strong ab and back muscles - it's not nice to hold it for long, but it is one of my favourite ways to move about when I sit on the floor. Hurts like hell if you hit the floor or if you stay in that position for long but Karma's definitely fit enough to pull it off.


	15. terra mirabili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gakushuu and Karma feels like they're being led around by Akashi, and Karma learns some disturbing facts about Kiju weapons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _terra mirabili - wonderland._
> 
>  
> 
> A year... I'm so sorry ugh. It seems like I only get the urge (and the time) to write when I'm on Summer break. 
> 
> .... I'm also procrastinating from finding an internship kill me. 
> 
> This chapter is very nerdy (the next one too!) - but you don't have to know the details since the characters will explain all that is important in due time.
> 
> I have also heavily departed from the OnS canon in terms of the origins of the Seraphs and demons - particularly because I don't follow the series anymore. Oops.

_“…Nii-sama, what is that?” A hint of a smile flickered across his older brother’s face. Nagisa thought it looked a little creepy, what with the way Tetsuya nii-sama was holding onto the dagger limply in his hand._

_“Your key to returning to Akabane-kun, forever.”_

 

* * *

 

Karma had to agree with Asano – for he knew he was looking at a paragraph which seemingly made no sense – encoded in cipher, for sure.

Akashi-and-Kuroko were playing them.

He could no longer find it in him to feel anger. Sighing, he sat up, slapping the paper onto the floor and ruffling his hair in exhaustion.

“I don’t see anything?” Sugino’s confused voice drifted across the room, and all eyes landed on the blue-haired baseball player before Akari scoffed and motioned for him to hand his piece of paper over. Lifting the paper up into the light, the green-haired girl blinked in surprise.

“He’s right, there’s nothing underneath the words here at all.”

Which means it was not on every single page – simply a coincidence, or a distraction?

He highly doubted information like this would just be reproduced on any kind of paper. So it was either a distraction, or Akashi-and-Kuroko were trying to tell them something.

Huh. 

“We can’t read it, though.” Okuda mumbled, frowning up at her piece of paper in frustration.

“What we do know, however,” Asano’s sharp voice cut in, “Is that only some of the papers contain the hidden paragraphs. We should separate those from the rest.”

Karma hummed in agreement, continuing to eye his piece of paper. The paragraph seemed to be typed out in English, and definitely not in atbash or ROT13 – that was way too easy, and Akashi seemed to love to play around with them a lot – so it left him with Caesar, affine or Vigenere. There is no key word for them to reference, so –

“Probably Caesar, I’d say.” He looked at Asano with a raised eyebrow, the other was now lying on the floor – he’d left the others to sort the papers, it seems – and staring at the paper he was holding with a frown.

“Why? It could be affine.” Never mind the fact that Caesar was technically an affine cipher, so Karma was right either way – he was just surprised that Asano was able to come to a definite conclusion this easily.

“I doubt Akashi wants to waste our time on the deciphering, and since this is definitely not atbash, ROT13 or Vigenere, and affine ciphers take a longer time to break, it could only be Caesar.” Asano paused, “Unless this is a cipher with a secret key that only the Kuroko family – or even more annoyingly, Akashi and Kuroko - knows. But like I said, it’s more probable that Akashi doesn’t want to waste our time, or give us something that either of us can’t decode on our own without some kind of hint.” 

Karma sighed, looking down at the line written on his piece.

_Nkqsck coowc dy lo nysxq govv, kxn sc mkzklvo yp pebdrob cixmrbyxsckdsyx gsdr dro nowyx._

“… We have to figure out the language and the substitution.”

“Mmhm.” Judging from Asano’s absent-minded reply, it seems like the other’s already working on deciphering, gaze fixed unwavering on his paper. He grimaced, turning around to search for his bag in order to get his pencil and notebook, before noticing that the others were staring at him – or rather, both him and Asano.

“…What?” Hayami was the first to snap out of her daze, coughing lightly and regaining her cool composure.

“Nothing, just a little surprised, Karma-sama.” She shrugged, before handing a small pile of paper over as Karma approached her.

“With the addition of our own pieces, we found ten pages in total with the hidden information. Adding yours and Asano-san’s, that makes twelve in total.” Karma sighed, reaching over to take the pile from her.

“Only twelve out of that huge pile though? Isn’t that kind of little?” Akari mumbled, frowning. 

“The official information given to us is pretty useful as well.” Asano spoke up, sitting up and reaching for his pencil case and notepad in his school bag. “Though I have to wonder if there is any significance in choosing these pages specifically.” He looked at Karma, who looked down to frown at the papers in his hand.

 _The current human Seraph gene, as we know it, seems to have originated from the Seraphs that had once battled the demons and led to the first Apocalypse roughly three thousand years ago. While localization of the gene is not possible at this stage, it has been significantly associated gene loci Xq22.3, Xq23, Xp22.2, 10q23.31…_

_… Experiments with the Seraph gene have proven to be difficult, with subjects dying quickly after succumbing to sudden bouts of extreme violence._

_… While both Seraphs and Demons are destructive by nature, the earth-binding nature of Demons mean that they are less harmful to Earth and therefore more compatible with humans._

_… It has been theorized that introducing demonic influences to a human being changes their genetic code, with SNPs and VNTRs of certain genes located on loci that are not dissimilar to those that have been associated with the Seraph gene, specifically Xq22.3, Xq23… include 2q11.2, 11q13.2… Specifically, changing a…_

_… Subjects who have been exposed to demonic influences via the wielding of prototype Kiju weapons have shown genetic changes in areas…_

_… Positive effects are the increase in speed, agility, strength as well as magical capability. Other changes include auditory, visual, olfactory and tactile hallucinations. Personality changes have been observed, particularly increases in violent tendencies, bipolarism…._

_… Certain subjects have shown to have increased compatibility with demons, experiencing less hallucinations and less in-discriminatory violence. It is still unknown why this is so, although…._

_… Most, however, end up losing control of their very own consciousness as the demon takes over fully. Failure rate is as high as 92.4 percent, with most subjects having to be killed. The ones who are able to control the possession perform better, but show intense physical deterioration over a short period of time…._

Karma paused, thinking back to the utter wrongness he had felt from Nagisa the night he broke into Karma’s room.

“…Well? Akabane?” The redhead looked up to see that Asano had stood up, and was now looking at him with an impatient frown.   

“These are the pages on the Seraph gene, as well as the summary findings from the initial Kiju weapon experiments... They mentioned experiments on the Seraph gene as well.” Karma and Asano might be smart, but neither of them were specialists in the demonic arts or genetics – they wouldn’t be able to understand the detailed versions even if Akashi gave that information to them.

Akashi was leading them around – telling them which pages to look at _and_ giving them extra information at the same time.

The question is, why? Why would Akashi (or Kuroko, maybe) do something that doesn’t actually benefit him in the slightest?

“So Akashi’s telling us to look at these pages, and give the rest to people who can actually help Kuroko Tetsuya with his research?” Asano mused, his frown becoming as prominent as the one that probably donned Karma’s face right now.

“What next, he points to a sign that says ‘eat me’ and we’re just going to eat whatever he tells us to?”

“I didn’t know you were into Alice in Wonderland, Year Rep-san~” The group jumped in surprise at the foreign voice – or rather, he, Okuda and Hayami jumped, Sugino looked resigned, Akari was joyful while Asano turned to the source with an annoyed twitch. Karma followed his line of vision to see a girl with long blonde hair grinning widely at them from the window seal of Akari’s very much eleventh floor mansion apartment.

“Rio-san!”

“…Nakamura-san.” Asano evidently did not share Yukimura’s happiness at seeing the blonde.

“Rio, get in! You’re gonna fall!”  

“Awww Sugino, you have way too little confidence in my abilities!” The blonde shook her head, but entered the apartment with a light, agile hop. After shooting a grin at Sugino and hugging Yukimura, she turned her gaze towards Karma, who merely raised an eyebrow.

“So, you’re Akabane Karma. I’m Nakamura Rio, Nagisa’s told me so much about you!” The girl spoke Japanese fluently, but Karma could tell a slight hint of foreign accent – English maybe? Or a language where the roll of tongue for the “l” sound is much more defined, and the “r” sound a lot weaker – from the way she speaks.

He didn’t know the Nakamura family had a heiress – then again, there was a lot that he didn’t know, being the heir of the outcast.

“Rio-san’s studying abroad right now, in America. We called her to come and help, but I didn’t expect her to appear this quickly.” Yukimura mused. This explained the accent, Karma thought, watching the girl who was still grinning cockily at her ability to catch everyone – she looked like the type to lord it over Asano – by surprise.

She reminded Karma of his old self. In another world, Karma and she could probably hit it off real good.

“Nice to meet you, Nakamura.” He replied her greeting with a shrug, gesturing to his two aides who were still on guard behind him, “These are my aids, the redhead’s Hayami Rinka, the one with glasses is Okuda Manami.” The blonde grinned at them, waving. Karma didn’t even have to look to know how they will respond – Hayami with a polite but curt bow, Okuda with a timid wave.

“Hm, was Nagisa not jealous when you have two pretty female aides?” She teased, and Karma frowned at the mention of Nagisa. Sugino paled, Yukimura sighed and pulled Rio back before she could take her teasing further. Asano rolled his eyes in frustration, and caught Karma’s eye before mouthing _weird_.

He understood what Asano’s trying to say.

“Anyway,” The strawberry blond bit out, shooting a glare at Nakamura, “Before Nakamura-san here cut me off with her… entrance, I was trying to say that it makes no sense for Akashi to lead us to such information so easily. It’s like he’s trying to help us sort through this whole pile faster.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Sugino questioned, and Karma had to remember that the blue-haired boy was probably the person who knew the least about Akashi Seijuurou in this room. Hayami shook her head.  

“Not at all, the Akashi heir wouldn’t do something this nice, not without an ultimate motive.”

“The question is, what is that motive exactly?” Asano was right, Karma could understand how Alice feels right now after falling down the rabbit hole – confused and with people leading him everywhere. The only difference between them and Alice is probably the fact that most of their little group possess a healthy amount of suspicion towards the Akashi heir.

Nakamura sighed.

“Shouldn’t the both of you break the hidden information on these sheets first before asking what Student Council President-sama is planning?” Both Karma and Asano froze, remembering just what was pressing at hand. Asano cursed, sitting down and picking up his pencil again. Karma sighed, passing half the papers over to the strawberry blond, before taking his seat on the floor again. The group rest followed their actions and gathered around the two of them.

_Get yourself together, Karma._

Nakamura was right, this was not the time to think about Akashi's motives. He had an Apocalypse to prevent, and Nagisa to chase.

 

* * *

 

_“My… key to Karma?” Nagisa would never forget the smile his brother gave him at that – a nod._

_“It’s known as a Kiju weapon,” He watched, mesmerized, as his brother’s fingers danced over the hilt of the blade, unsheathing it. Tetsuya brought it up to eye the blade under the lights of the mansion. The blade was pure black, with a rim of gold covering its sharp edge, matching the grip in its colouring. There was a verdant coloured gem resting on its front bolster, its shiny surface protruding from both sides._

_There was something… unsettling about it. The younger of the two felt something cold coil in his stomach just by looking at it._

_“What do you mean, Tetsuya nii-sama?” His brother’s attention snapped back to him, before he smiled again._

_“There’s something that I want you to do for me, Nagisa."_

_“And that will bring Karma back to me?”_

_“Of course, I promise. But it is dangerous… Will you do it?”_

_“Yes, yes I will.” It might be dangerous, but Nagisa would do anything if it meant that he could be with Karma._

_Even if he might regret that decision one day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIO. IS. FINALLY. HERE. I originally planned a different timing for her entrance but Gakushuu left himself open to be teased, so. (The window part of her entrance though, was planned.) 
> 
> So, a quickie on substitution ciphers. The ones mentioned here are some of the most common ones. Affine is probably the one I'm most familiar with - where you map an alphabet to its numeric equivalent, encrypt it with a mathematical function, get a new number, and then convert it back to an alphabet. Both atbash and Caesar ciphers are considered affine ciphers. Caesar cipher is where the alphabets are linearly mapped to each other (for example, A becomes B, B becomes C and so forth). ROT13 is a special case of Caesar, where the alphabet is replaced with the 13th alphabet after it (A to N...). Atbash is where you map the alphabets in the opposite manner - for example, A becomes Z, B becomes Y and yadda yadda yadda. You don't need a keyword to decode these, just knowing the shift/mathematical function is enough. 
> 
> A vigenere cipher requires a keyword, and is a lot more complex. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher) probably offers a better explanation than I do.
> 
> You don't have to know all the stuff on gene loci - it's there because Akashi gave them scientific reports so it's better to make it sound like such. I chose those loci for certain reasons though - it's an easter egg if you're knowledgable about these things (my knowledge only extends to psychiatry and not other areas so I had to do a library search on some of them), but feel free to ignore them, since the description about the effects is what's truly important to the story. ~~should I add a pseudo-science tag lmao~~
> 
> If you have the time and you want to try doing something fun, try decoding the line on Karma's paper. I'll give you three hints:  
> 1\. Both Karma and Asano are right. It is a Caesar cipher in English.  
> 2\. Think Akashi and Kuroko.  
> 3\. Capital letters are not encoded.


	16. fulmen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karma ran. He ran, and ran, and ran.
> 
> There was nothing but red in his vision. The thirst for blood, and the accursed words that he’d transcribed. 
> 
> _fulmen - lightning_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is... weird. I'm not too pleased with how this (and the previous chapter too tbh) came out, but it might just be my sleepiness talking cause it's almost 1am. 
> 
> I'm sleepy so I'll spell-check this (and beta the previous chapter) tomorrow :) Good night!

“So,” Akabane began, fingers twirling his pencil, “We just have to figure out the shift that they used.”

“That’s easier said than done,” He rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone and turning its flashlight on, before setting it face down on the floor. The others followed suit and he and Akabane spread the papers out so that the runes could be viewed without being held against the ceiling lights.

“…I think,” Nakamura spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention to her, “these,” She held out her palm towards Gakushuu, who handed over his pencil, proceeding to draw circles around two individual letter “k”s, “Could be letter “a”s, there aren’t any other monoalphabetic words that can be used in its lower case in the language, provided it is English.”

“We should proceed with the assumption that it is written in English, otherwise we’d never get anywhere.” He suggested, frowning when he felt Akabane freeze.

“What is it, Akabane?” The redhead merely took his pencil and circled the words – that particular word was repeated a couple of times across the twelve pages – Nkqsck. Gakushuu felt his frown deepen. 

N, k, q, s, c, k?

X, a, g, i, s, a?

No, it was _Nagisa_.

Oh. _Oh._

“The upper case letters are not encoded.” He began in a rush, relieved to be getting somewhere and mentally thanking Nakamura-san, “And Nakamura-san’s thinking is indeed correct – this is a Caesar cipher with a shift of ten.” When he got slightly confused looks from the other four individuals in the room – the redhead beside him was now scribbling furiously onto his notebook, while Nakamura continued grinning – “I mean, the letter A now becomes K, and so on and so forth, while the capital letters remain unchanged from their original.”

“Ah!” Yukimura beamed, “We can decode these then! It’s a lot easier than runes!” She reached for some of the papers and proceeded to take out her own stationery. Gakushuu nodded, it was a good thing Nakamura-san was here – he and Akabane might be good at their studies, it still helped to have a more familiar speaker to help them out.

“Ka – Karma-sama?” He turned to see Akabane grabbing the papers back from Yukimura, shifting through them and sorting some out for himself.

Gakushuu was willing to bet he was hoarding the ones related to Nagisa.

“Just,” The redhead’s voice came out forced, as if he was trying to suppress something. This made Gakushuu’s insides drop, did the documents reveal something bad about Nagisa -? “Just give me the ones that has Nagisa’s name on it. I don’t really care what you do with the rest.” Gakushuu rolled his eyes as he saw the two aides withdraw, Yukimura was now frowning, while Sugino had a worried look on his face.

There were four pages that contained Nagisa-related information. Sighing, the strawberry blond took the rest that Akabane had unceremoniously discarded – the other heir was now back to glaring holes onto his notepad while writing nonstop. 

“We could split the rest,” He offered with a slightly forced smile, placing the stack back to the centre – it would’ve been an easier division of labour otherwise, had Akabane not chosen to hog the rest to himself. He couldn’t find it within himself to berate the other for slowing them down – while Akabane might be smarter than Yukimura and the others, it will still take him longer to convert the information on four pages than the others to do one – he understood his classmate’s reasons.

Seems like his little peptalk a while back worked after all.

 _Or maybe, he wasn’t going to give up on Nagisa in the first place_. Gakushuu thought amusedly, turning to his notepad.

_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz_

If he shifted ten characters…

_klmnopqrvtuvwxyzabcdefghij_

There! So the words on his piece of paper becomes…

_Ferid has made contact, while the Vampires are still deemed not a threat at the moment, they are expected to become threats in the future._

_“Sure, they used to be, since they are good at staying underground. But they have been more active in their movements since the Teikou Imperial Army expanded into looking at the supernatural.”_

So what Kuroko said was indeed true, Gakushuu thought back to his blue-haired senpai’s words.

Vampires belonged to urban legends, but for fictional beings, his father – as well as the heads of other families – had taught his heir about them extensively since young, all in the form of religious and mythical studies.

Gakushuu remembered attending every lesson with distaste and high amounts of skepticism. 

With everything that’s been going on, however, he was going to have to start accepting the fact that those things that he’d once thought lived exclusively in the imaginations of individuals who had too much free time to spare were in fact, very much real. 

And it seemed like Teikou had known about their existence for years (perhaps even centuries), why else would they pass - force, really - that knowledge down their future generations otherwise? It would be counter-productive to do so without a rational reason.

The only logical conclusion is that the Kuroko family had known about the vampires’ existence, but could not be sure about their movements. Either that, or they had not made contact with civilization in a long time.

But when they do resurface, there is no doubt that they will become huge threats.

“Asano-kun?” He snapped his attention towards Yukimura, who was looking at him in concern.

“Are you all right?” 

“I, yes. I apologise, Yukimura-san, did you say something?” The green-haired girl blinked worriedly, before sighing, closing her eyes with a frown.

“You should stop being so polite,” His reply was cut off, “We are going to work together from now on, it doesn’t hurt for us to trust each other a bit more.” She opened her eyes to stare resolutely at him.

“That aside,” She continued, choosing not to let him respond, gesturing to the pieces of paper in her hand, “We’ve finished translating the rest of the pages while you were blanking out – Gakushuu reflexively blanched at the idea of showing weakness in front of anyone, he shouldn’t have drowned himself in his thoughts – but Akabane-kun is still….” Amber-coloured eyes turned to look at the redhead sitting beside him.

Akabane’s shoulders were shaking, Gakushuu frowned and reached over to nudge him.

Nothing.

His head remained down, fists clenching the pages in his hands tightly – and Gakushuu felt a splash of cold wash over him because _Akabane had the pages related to Nagisa_.

“Akabane, hand them over, now.” 

Again, the other did not move. He scowled, moving over to shove the other hard with his right side and reaching towards the crumpled pages in the unresponsive boy’s hands. 

Akabane shoved him back twice as hard, and Gakushuu had to wince, leaning back to avoid an elbow jab by the other in the face. Ignoring the shout from Sugino telling them to stop, he leaned forward to press his bodyweight on the other – Akabane’s sudden weirdness was not doing this foreboding feeling in his abdomen any favours – only to gasp in surprise when the redhead suddenly stood up, causing Gakushuu to end up on the floor instead.

He was looking directly into Akabane’s golden irises. The redhead’s expression was ugly and hateful, a sort of madness and anger swirling in his eyes that made Gakushuu pause.

 _What, exactly, is on those papers, that made you react this way?_  

“….Akabane?” 

“Karma-sama?” 

The other boy remained silent once again at their calls, and spoke only after three long heartbeats of silence.

“I’m going to kill him.” Wha –

“Akabane,” He scrambled up from the floor as the redhead ran out of Yukimura’s apartment, slamming the door shut with a loud bang. “Wait!”

“Karma-sama!” Ignoring the frantic cries of the redhead’s aides, Gakushuu dashed to the _genkan_ , kicking off his slippers and changing into his loafers, all the while silently cursing himself for letting Akabane take the pages related to Nagisa. The redhead was nothing but a loose cannon when it came to Gakushuu’s fiancé, he should have planned better –

Exiting the apartment, he scowled further when he heard rapid footsteps descending the stairwell and proceeded to follow the other – the lift would indeed, as Akabane had felt the same way, be too slow. However, there was no guarantee that Gakushuu would be able to catch up to the other with the head-start.

He was not too proud to admit that Akabane was at least on par with him, and whatever – _whoever_ – that has made the other this angry had only increased the redhead’s speed.

Gakushuu cursed out loud this time, picking up his pace as much as possible.

 

* * *

 

Karma ran. He ran, and ran, and ran.

There was nothing but red in his vision. The thirst for blood, and the accursed words that he’d transcribed. 

_Introduced a demon weapon to Nagisa._

He understood why Nagisa had felt so off, so unlike the kind Nagisa he’d known, during their last meeting.

_Nagisa seems to be doing well, and is capable of further synchronisation with the demon._

His feet brought him forward relentlessly, as if they knew where Karma wanted to head, the person that Karma wanted to see so badly right now so that he could personally tear that emotionless face off his shoulder – how could they not, when there was nothing else in Karma but a burning vortex of hate?

_Updates on Nagisa: Second stage of integration is going smooth - signs of hallucinations reported._

_It’s all his fault_ , he thought as he continued running, _he’s the reason why Nagisa’s no longer Nagisa._

_Nagisa: Third stage of integration. Synchronisation rate is at 90%. Increased aggression and bipolar behaviours observed. Risks generated from proceeding further with the experiments are high. Stopping is not an option right now, for the sake of this research._

_He_ ’s the reason why Nagisa’s been labeled a traitor – the emotionless tone in which the writer had delivered the words made his blood boil further – and Karma will never forgive him.

“Akabane, stop it!”

There was no time to react, as Asano barrelled into him.

 

* * *

 

Akari gaped at her apartment entrance, where Karma, Gakushuu and Okuda and Hayami (in that order) had just ran out of, before turning towards Sugino, who looked as surprised as she did, and Rio – who merely looked intrigued as she examined the piece of paper that had been in Asano’s hands.

“Should we go after them?” Rio shrugged at Sugino’s question, still staring at the paper as if contained all that was miraculous and fascinating about the world.

“Asano can handle whatever Akabane’s on just fine.” She replied absentmindedly, before shaking her head and looking at the ones that Karma had left behind. The only male left in their little group sighed.

“I’m more interested in why Akabane suddenly went off like that.” Akari nodded at that, bending down to reach for the crumpled pages laying forgotten on the floor. Rio and Sugino came to stand beside her as she stood up, frowning at Karma’s handwriting.

_Introduced a demon weapon to Nagisa._

_Nagisa seems to be doing well, and is capable of further synchronisation with the demon._

_Updates on Nagisa: Second Stage of integration is going smooth - signs of hallucinations reported._

_Nagisa: Third stage of integration. Synchronisation rate is at 90%. Increased aggression and bipolar behaviours observed. Risks generated from proceeding further with the experiments are high. Stopping is not an option right now, for the sake of this research._

Rio sucked in a breath of disbelief, while Akari could only stand there in shocked silence, feeling numb to her very core.

“Kuroko-senpai is developing and testing out the Kiju weapons… He used Nagisa as a subject despite knowing their negative effects?” It is no secret that the Kuroko family has an abundance of skeletons in its closet – top-secret experiments that they liked to keep hushed up. The existence of those experiments themselves – as well as the accompanying torturous and inhumane treatment of test subjects – are open secrets, aired amongst the top-ranking families to be rumour fodders, while their focus and details are always kept classified.

No sane (or practical, really) family would allow one of their scions to be used as a mere test subject – especially not one as powerful as the Kurokos - even if it was for their own research.

“That explains why Akabane-kun ran out like that.” Rio commented drily, “We should gather all these and follow them.”

Because where else would Karma head, other than towards Kuroko Tetsuya?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are nearing the end of the first part of this fic! Interlude chapters come after a few chapters, and then part two begins. I now have a rough estimate of the length of this thing. ~~(and then I can start writing the character gaidens I really want to work on lmao)~~
> 
> Karma and Gakushuu have many more scuffles (I will not call them fights lmao) to come. Some fights too tbh. I don't write action well but I'll try my best.


End file.
